Guilty

Last week I had to appear in Federal Court. Thank goodness as a juror only. Our case was very interesting. A not-so-reputable man was selling fake cancer drugs online. He actually used the word "cure" in his website(s) and claimed the drug was FDA approved. And he didn't sell just cancer cures, but migraine cures, and cures for hangovers, cramps, and a bunch of other illnesses or conditions. Here's one of the amazing aspects of the case - it was all the same compound, but just with different labeling. We found him guilty on 19 charges revolving around mail fraud, wire fraud, introducing an unapproved drug into interstate commerce, and misbranding a drug.

It was also interesting to see how his actions impacted other business people that he worked with. His website designer and copywriter both testified. Although they both had ethical concerns with building the website under his direction, they still followed his orders. Neither realized they would now be charged criminally as co-conspirators. I'm still surprised that the manufacturer of the drug has not yet been charged, although he was fully aware of the intent to fraud since he was applying different labels to the same compound. Either way, it was a lesson in life. When you know something is ethically and morally wrong, that there is a good chance it is criminally wrong as well - and you just don't know the law.

I normally would've written the names of the defendent, the products, the website, etc. but I did some research on this guy after the trial was over. He is dirty and seedy and has been involved in many lawsuits against people who have stood up to him. He's sued a website $1 million for posting warnings about his sites and he's sued detectives who arrested him in previous charges. Just be careful out there folks - the internet is a great resource for products and information, but not all of it is true.