{"id":58173,"date":"2025-01-06T20:04:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T04:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58173"},"modified":"2025-01-06T20:04:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T04:04:31","slug":"part-time-actor-sentenced-to-over-eight-years-in-prison-for-peddling-fake-covid-19-cure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58173","title":{"rendered":"Part-Time Actor Sentenced to Over Eight Years in Prison for Peddling Fake COVID-19 Cure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"An Orange County man and part-time actor was sentenced Monday to eight years and two months in federal prison for soliciting investors in companies that marketed bogus cure and treatment for COVID-19 during the pandemic\u2019s early days, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Keith Lawrence Middlebrook, 57, of Huntington Beach, was sentenced by federal judge Dale S. Fischer, who also fined him $25,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 At the conclusion of a three-day trial in May 2024, a jury found Middlebrook guilty of 11 counts of wire fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In March 2020, Middlebrook solicited potential investors in California, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Colorado via text messages, videos and statements posted on YouTube and Instagram about his purported cure for COVID-19. Middlebrook called this so-called cure \u201cQC20,\u201d and he also marketed a purported COVID treatment, which he called \u201cQP20.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Middlebrook claimed to have personally developed a \u201cpatent-pending\u201d cure and a treatment to prevent coronavirus infection. Middlebrook fraudulently solicited investments in various companies with a series of false promises. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"These fraudulent claims included miraculous results from the prevention product and the cure, risk-free and 100 percent guaranteed \u201cenormous returns\u201d on investments,\u201d and that former Los Angeles Lakers point guard Earvin \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson was a director and officer of Middlebrook\u2019s company. <\/span><\/p>\n

He induced victims to invest their money by promising them enormous returns. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Judge Fischer based Middlebrook\u2019s sentence in part on finding that he obstructed justice by his lying on the witness stand when he testified about his purported relationship and business dealings with Johnson, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To bolster these claims, Middlebrook lied that a party in Dubai had offered to purchase his companies for $10 billion, and this offer would secure the victim-investors\u2019 investments in the companies. <\/span><\/p>\n

He also lied that he had secured funding from seven investors who had each already invested between $750,000 and $1 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The FBI arrested Middlebrook in this case in March 2020 after Middlebrook delivered pills \u2013 purportedly the treatment that prevents coronavirus infection \u2013 to an undercover agent who was posing as an investor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The FBI investigated this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth R. Carbajal of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and Joseph S. Guzman of the General Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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