Four Charged with Internet Sales of Industrial Bleach as Miracle Cure

Louis Daniel Smith, 42, and Karis Delong, 38, both of Ashland, Ore., were charged with defrauding regulators and suppliers in a scheme to manufacture and sell industrial bleach as a cure for numerous illnesses, including arthritis, cancer, and the seasonal flu.   Also charged were Chris Olson, 49, and Tammy Olson, 50, of Nine Mile Falls, Wash.   A federal grand jury returned an indictment, unsealed yesterday, charging Smith, Delong and Tammy Olson with one count of conspiracy, four counts of interstate sales of misbranded drugs, and one count of smuggling.   The grand jury charged Chris Olson with one count of conspiracy, one count of the interstate sale of a misbranded drug and one count of smuggling.

 

The indictment alleges that Smith and Delong operated a business called “Project GreenLife” (PGL) from 2004 to 2011.   PGL provided various health products for sale over the internet.   According to the indictment, Smith and Delong arranged the manufacture and sale of the “Miracle Mineral Supplement” (MMS), a mixture of Sodium Chlorite and water.   Sodium chlorite is not meant for human consumption.   Suppliers of the chemical include a warning sheet with the chemical that states that it is harmful if swallowed.  

 

According to the indictment, PGL provided consumers directions to combine MMS with citric acid to create Chlorine Dioxide, and the instructions told consumers to drink this mixture to cure numerous illnesses.   Chlorine Dioxide is a potent agent used to bleach textiles, among other industrial applications.   In humans, Chlorine Dioxide is a severe respiratory and eye irritant that can cause nausea, diarrhea and dehydration.  

 

As part of the scheme to manufacture MMS, the indictment alleges that Smith, Delong, and others smuggled sodium chlorite into the United States from Canada using fraudulent invoices to hide the true end use of the product.   In these invoices, according to the indictment, they falsely claimed that the ingredients they were purchasing for MMS were to be used in wastewater treatment facilities.

 

According to the charging documents, Smith and Delong were the managing members of PGL Smith co-founded the company, and Delong frequently handled financial transactions for the company and recruited friends and family to participate in the business. The indictment alleges that Smith and Delong paid Tammy Olson to handle all customer inquiries regarding the product.   It is alleged that Tammy Olson continued selling MMS on her own website after federal agents shut down the Project GreenLife website and production facilities.  

 

The indictment also alleges that Smith and Delong paid Chris Olson to clandestinely manufacture MMS in a building on his property after regulators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected PGL’s original manufacture and shipping locations.

 

“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the health and safety of people with cancer and other serious medical conditions,” said Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Our most vulnerable citizens need real medicine – not dangerous chemicals peddled by modern-day snake oil salesmen.”  

 

Charges contained in the indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt.   Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty it is to determine guilt or innocence.

 

The case was investigated by agents of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.   The case is being prosecuted by Christopher E. Parisi, a Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch in Washington, D.C.