Anti-smoking and male-enhancement drug maker charged with fraud after months on the lam

The claims in regards to the effectiveness of Prolongz, homeopathic smoking cessation drug, TBX-Free and weight-loss strip, Eupepsia Thin, quickly caught the eye of the Federal Trade Commission. After years of authorized wrangling, a decide dominated that the California firm had made false claims in regards to the efficacy of the medication, and ordered them to halt operations.

Then early final 12 months, federal prosecutors secured a felony indictment accusing the corporate’s head, Jason Edward Thomas Cardiff, 48, of fraud for allegedly charging prospects over and over for medication they by no means requested for and for allegedly getting staff to destroy paperwork the FTC had sought as a part of their probe.

The downside for prosecutors was that Cardiff had left the nation, in line with court docket paperwork, promoting his home in Upland, California and shifting to Ireland the place he has twin citizenship along with his daughter and spouse, with whom he had run Redwood Scientific. 

The case remained underneath seal till earlier this week, when authorities had a stroke of luck: Cardiff returned to Los Angeles to go to his ailing 96-year-old father, in line with court docket paperwork, and was arrested on the airport. They have sought to have Cardiff held with out bail. He pleaded not responsible.

A message left with Cardiff’s legal professional wasn’t instantly returned.

In court docket paperwork filed after Cardiff’s arrest, prosecutors detailed what they described as  a long-running cat-and-mouse sport investigators had waged with Cardiff as they tried to find out how he ran his enterprise whereas they are saying he tried to cover property and destroy proof.

What investigators say they decided was that Cardiff had routinely continued to cost the bank cards of consumers who had purchased Redwood Scientific’s medication for strips they’d by no means ordered. And when FTC investigators demanded paperwork in regards to the enterprise, Cardiff allegedly ordered them destroyed.  

“This indictment alleges a blatant ripoff that simply charged customers for products they never ordered,” mentioned Martin Estrada, the U.S. legal professional for the central district of California.

Meanwhile, investigators say they decided that Cardiff and his household had been residing the high-life, driving in Bentleys, Porsches and personal jets and spending on lavish holidays and personal college tuition for his or her daughter. They allege Cardiff stashed cash abroad and in accounts in his aged father’s identify.

Despite being underneath felony indictment and a decide having ordered Redwood Scientific to stop promoting its medication, Cardiff continued to promote shares within the firm as an over-the-counter inventory and concern statements about its analysis on refining oral strip know-how, in line with filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares within the inventory have swung from as little as two-hundredths of a cent to 42 cents over the previous 12 months. Shares plunged 42% to 16 cents on Thursday following news of Cardiff’s indictment.

In 2020, Cardiff was tied to an effort by a separate firm VPL Medical, which secured a $20 million, no-bid contract to promote masks to the Department of Veterans Affairs within the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, in line with a ProPublica report. The deal was canceled after Cardiff’s function was revealed.