Federal authorities have indicted a Utah man who allegedly posed as a physician to sell a baseless cure for COVID-19, donning a stethoscope and white lab coat in videos and photos posted on the internet to further his alleged fraud scheme.
Gordon Pedersen falsely presented himself as a physician and fraudulently promoted and sold ingestible silver-based products as a cure for COVID-19 despite having no evidence that his products could treat or cure the disease, according to the indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City late last week. Federal prosecutors allege that the scheme began in early 2020.
The company Mr. Pedersen previously co-owned, My Doctor Suggests LLC, has agreed to plead guilty to a one-count criminal charge related to its false marketing of ingestible silver products as treatment for COVID-19. The company has cut ties with Mr. Pedersen and agreed to cooperate in his prosecution.
"In addition to the imposition of a civil restraining order that successfully shut down fraudulent claims of a COVID-19 cure-all, Mr. Pedersen now faces criminal charges for his conduct," said U.S. Attorney John W. Huber for the District of Utah. "The federal felony allegations are serious, especially against the backdrop of this pandemic where Americans are yearning for effective relief."
In April, federal authorities issued a temporary restraining order to stop Mr. Pedersen and My Doctor Suggests from promoting silver products as a coronavirus treatment, noting that the parties falsely claimed the presence of silver in the bloodstream "ushers" coronavirus out of the body.