In July 2021, Juli Anne Mazi, N.D., a licensed naturopath who practiced in Napa, California, was charged with wire fraud and making false statements in connection with selling “homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets” and fraudulent “vaccination cards” which falsely stated that customers had received the FDA-authorized Moderna vaccine [1].
A flier distributed by Mazi described homeoprophylaxis as the use of a homeopathic nosode that is made by introducing a “tiny amount” of the disease-causing organism into the body to trigger an immune reaction. The flier stated that her product was labeled Deterreo-US, which is the name of the company that produced the NOVUS-CV or COVID-19 pellets.
Nosodes are homeopathic products made by repeatedly diluting material obtained from pathological organs or tissues; causative agents such as bacteria, fungi, ova, parasites, virus particles and yeast; disease products; or excretions. The “potency” of the pellets marketed by Mazi was said to be 200C (200 dilutions of 1:100) or 10M (10,000 dilutions of 1:100) which, if actually done, would mean that the product does not contain a single moleule of the original substance.
Children who attend schools in California are required to be appropriately vaccinated unless there is a valid medical reason not to do so. Court documents charged that:
- In recent years, Mazi was (a) selling (a) homeopathic vaccines” for chldhood illnesses that she falsely claimed would satisfy California’s immunization requirements and (b) providing falsified immunization cards that were submitted to the schools by parents.
- In 2021, Mazi began offering products that she said would result in full lifelong immunity from COVID-19. She also distributed COVID-19 vaccination record cards, with Moderna listed, with instructions to mark the cards to falsely state that the Moderna vaccine had been given on the date that they ingested the pellets.
- To encourage customers to purchase the pellets, Mazi exploited disinformation and fear by falsely claiming that the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines contain toxic ingredients.
- Between January 2020 and May 21, 2021, Mazi received approximately $221,817 in 1,242 transactions that were processed by a digital payment company. These included 25 (amounting to $7,653) that were said to be for COVID-19 and 34 others for homeoprophylaxis treatments. The rest did not specify what they covered, but they were probably for homeoprophylaxis [2].
Trial Attorney Sridhar Babu Kaza of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section’s National Rapid Response Strike Force and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christiaan Highsmith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case. The case was brought in coordination with the Health Care Fraud Unit’s COVID-19 Interagency Working Group, which is chaired by the National Rapid Response Strike Force and organizes efforts to address illegal activity involving health care programs during the pandemic.
References
- Woman arrested for fake COVID-19 immunization and vaccination card scheme. U.S. Department of Justice news release, July 14, 2021.
- Complaint and affidavit. United States v. Juli Mazi. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 3:21−mj−71156−MAG, filed July 13, 2021.
