The PP Blog first told you about “Miracle Mineral Supplement,” also known as “Miracle Mineral Solution” or MMS, in August 2010. The FDA warned that serious harm could come to human beings who consumed it, saying MMS produced industrial bleach when used as directed.
“Multiple independent distributors” sold the product online, the FDA said.
Now, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced that four people — two from Oregon and two from Washington state — have been charged criminally.
Named defendants were Louis Daniel Smith, 42, and Karis Delong, 38, both of Ashland, Ore. Also charged were Chris Olson, 49, and Tammy Olson, 50, of Nine Mile Falls, Wash.
“Our most vulnerable citizens need real medicine — not dangerous chemicals peddled by modern-day snake oil salesmen,” said Stuart F. Delery, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
Smith and Delong operated a business known as “Project GreenLife” or PGL, the Justice Department said.
A dissolved Nevada corporation known as PGL International LLC lists “Daniel Smith” as its managing member. A website styled ProjectGreenLife.com now appears to be parked at GoDaddy. Meanwhile, there are references online to ProjectGreenLife purportedly having been a “1st and 14th Amendment Private Membership Association.”
At least one website that makes the claim makes a companion claim that Daniel Smith used “the help and counsel of the ProAdvocate Group” when contacting the FDA about MMS-related matters. “Daniel based his inquiry on a good-faith understanding of U.S. Supreme Court case law as it pertained to the activities of a private association,” the site claims. “Daniel told the FDA unless they objected within ten days he would assume they had no objection.”
Pro Advocate Group reportedly was the Texas-based entity that assisted the AdViewGlobal HYIP scam form a “private association” in 2009 in which AVG appears to have tried to insulate itself from examination by the U.S. government by purporting to operate from Uruguay. In April 2012, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia linked AVG to the $119 million Ponzi scheme operated by Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily.
Along with hawking purported private associations, Pro Advocate Group claims on its website that it offers “Pro Se Litigation with Super Appeal” and other services.
A Justice Department news release yesterday on the charges flowing from Project GreenLife and the sale of MMS did not reference Pro Advocate Group.
Smith, Delong and Tammy Olson were charged with one count of conspiracy, four counts of interstate sales of misbranded drugs and one count of smuggling. Chris Olson was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of the interstate sale of a misbranded drug and one count of smuggling.
The Justice Department said that “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.”
Research by the PP Blog shows that Daniel Smith apparently has supporters who’ve issued an appeal to “Please take a stand to help save MMS and Daniel Smith from the FDA.” A headline for video on the site describes the FDA as a “Cult of Tryanny.” A narrator describes the FDA as a “rogue agency” and superimposes the images of FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg and others against the backdrop of a height chart. It appears to be a ham-handed way to suggest that Hamburg and the other purported “rogues” should be booked at a police station.
From the Justice Department statement (italics added):
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.