After selling bleach as cure to COVID-19, Florida family faces up to life in prison

Nearly a year after the arrest of members of a Bradenton, Fla., family for the sale of bleach that they claimed cured the coronavirus, a federal jury has brought charges against members of the family for their role in the scheme.

The "Miracle Mineral Solution" was sold by Mark Grenon, 62, and his three sons – Jonathan, Jordan and Joseph – who all now face several charges for misleading buyers into believing sodium chlorite, an industrial bleach when mixed with water or ingested, was a medically safe drug.

They each face one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and two counts of criminal content.

The family made over $1 million selling MMS. And while marketing the deadly product as a virus cure, they also pitched it as a cure-all mixture that would also help people with cancer, Alzheimer's disease and HIV, according to a Justice Department release Friday.

 The Food and Drug Administration refuted claims last year that bleach would cure the virus, and a court ordered the family to stop selling the chemical. 

Previously, a judge ordered the Grenon family to stop their bleach business in a different, civil case. But the family ignored the order and continued to sell their dangerous product. 

Now, the father and the 32-year-old Joseph await trial in Colombia where they were detained in August.

The two other brothers were arrested last July when federal agents raided their home and found loaded guns, nearly 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder and thousands of bottles of MMS.

Federal prosecutors say at least seven people died after drinking the concoction, and there were several reports of hospitalizations as well. It is also believed the men sold the solution under their 'non-religious' Genesis Church of Health and Healing in an effort to bypass government regulations. 

If they are convicted of the charges, the men could be sentenced up to life in prison.