A British man has been accused of smuggling a fake coronavirus cure into the US and has been federally charged.
A British man has been accused of smuggling a fake coronavirus cure into the US and has been federally charged.
The man is 59 year old Frank Richard Ludlow and has been charged by a LA federal court. The charges include introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. If convicted, Ludlow faces three years in prison.
The fake cure he was selling was called the “Trinity Remedy” that could be ordered via mail. It contained vitamin C, an enzyme mix, potassium thiocyanate, and hydrogen peroxide.
In February, Ludlow started selling it by the name of “Trinity COVID-19 SARS Antipathogenic Treatment.” Between May 2017 and March 2020, it is alleged he sold 400 of the treatments for between $50 and $200, while giving others away.
A City of London Police spokesperson said: "The kits are thought to contain potassium thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide, both of which are extremely harmful chemicals when the user is instructed to wash and rinse their mouth with them.”
On 20 March, Ludlow was arrested near his home in West Sussex during a joint operation with authorities in the US. He was attempting to ship 60 fake treatments to France, the US and across the UK and police found an additional 300 kits and about 20 litres of chemicals used to produce the drugs.
The US Attorney’s Office said that: “Consumers were instructed to add 18 ounces of water, say a prayer, drink half of the solution, take a probiotic along with bee pollen, and then ingest the remainder of the solution. Every major health authority has warned that there is no specific antiviral treatment for Covid-19 and no vaccine to prevent coronavirus infection.
“Hucksters who hawk 'treatments' for this deadly disease put consumers' lives at risk by peddling unapproved drugs.”
Conor Kavanagh
by conorPublished on 03/04/20 at 11:30amLinks:
[1] https://twitter.com/Pharmafocus
[2] http://www.pharmafile.com/system/files/cdc_coronavirus.jpg