Florida family behind ‘church’ that sold bleach as a COVID cure go to trial this week

A Florida family that ran an online “church” that peddled a poisonous industrial bleaching agent as a miracle medical cure will go to trial on federal charges in Miami this week.

The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing was operated out of a home in Bradenton in Manatee County. Through websites, social media, books and podcasts, the Grenon family promoted their “Miracle Mineral Solution” as a cure for 95% of the world’s known diseases, including HIV/AIDS, autism, Alzheimer’s, leukemia and COVID-19.

The substance was sent through the mail to consumers in exchange for a “donation” to the Genesis church. Prosecutors say the Grenons made over $1 million before federal authorities cracked down on them for distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug in 2020.

The family — Mark Grenon and his sons Jonathan Grenon, Joseph Grenon and Jordan Grenon — were arrested and charged after they continued to distribute and promote the substance and were openly defiant of court orders.

Officials have blamed the ingestion of MMS for several deaths, as well as severe illness and hospitalization.

Here’s what to know about the case before the trial begins.

What was the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing?

The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing has marketed MMS in violation of federal law since 2010, criminal complaints allege.

It was in that year that Mark Grenon claims to have founded the organization with a man named Jim Humble in a plan to avoid governmental regulation and arrest as they promoted MMS as a miracle cure. Humble, a man who has dabbled in Scientology and professed to be a billion-year-old god, began promoting MMS as early as 2006 in self-published works after he claimed to have discovered its medical properties while on a gold-mining expedition in South America.

After Humble supposedly stepped away from the organization in 2017, Grenon continued to manufacture, promote and sell MMS with his three sons.

The Grenons utilized a “complex network of websites” to reach potential users, according to federal prosecutors, as well as “countless newsletters, posts, and articles.”

What is MMS?

MMS, or Miracle Mineral Solution, is a chemical solution that has been falsely promoted as a cure-all drug on the internet.

MMS is a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite and water. When used as directed, a citric acid “activator” is added to the solution, producing an industrial-grade bleaching agent known as chlorine dioxide.

“Drinking any of these chlorine dioxide products can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration,” the FDA says, and at high concentrations it can cause severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration and acute liver failure.

The Genesis MMS products were offered in exchange for “donations” to the organization, and marketed as safe for both adults and children.

The FDA said it received several reports of hospitalizations and life-threatening conditions as people drank MMS. At least seven Americans died after drinking the chemical mixture, Colombian prosecutors said at the time of Mark and Joseph Grenon’s extradition.

How did Genesis get shut down?

The Grenons caught the eye of federal agents during the COVID-19 pandemic when they began promoting MMS as a cure for the virus. At the time, many unproven and dangerous cures for COVID-19 were circulating social media.

In April 2020, federal authorities sent the Grenons a warning letter ordering them to stop sales of MMS.

“We can say cure, heal and treat as a Free Church,” Genesis allegedly said in a response letter. “There will be NO corrective actions on our part. ... You have no authority over us! ... Never going to happen.”

The Grenons’ open defiance of the court order ultimately led to criminal charges and a federal raid on the family’s Bradenton home, where federal investigators say they found loaded guns, nearly 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder and thousands of bottles of MMS.

Jonathan and Jordan Grenon, the eldest and youngest sons, were arrested in Bradenton.

Mark Grenon and the middle son, Joseph, fled to Colombia, where they were later arrested by Colombian authorities and held for extradition.

What charges are the Grenons facing?

All four Grenons originally faced charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to deliver misbranded drugs as well as two counts of criminal contempt.

However, the contempt charges against Mark and Joseph Grenon have been dropped because the Republic of Colombia, where the two men fled, only granted extradition to the U.S. on the conspiracy charge.

Jonathan and Jordan Grenon, who were arrested in Bradenton, still face all three charges.

Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. carries up to a five-year prison sentence. Federal criminal contempt charges can be punished with a fine or imprisonment and have no maximum sentence limit.

“The Grenons sold tens of thousands of bottles of MMS nationwide, including to consumers throughout South Florida,” prosecutors previously said in a statement. “They sold this dangerous product under the guise of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, an entity they are accused of creating to avoid government regulation of MMS and shield themselves from prosecution.”