Man convicted in weight loss drug scheme
A federal grand jury has convicted Frank Sarcona, a.k.a. Frank Sarcone, a.k.a. Dave Johnson of Boca Raton, Fla., of conspiracy to commit mail, wire fraud, and criminal contempt of court; conspiracy to commit money laundering; and multiple counts of substantive mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, misbranding of a food and criminal contempt of court in connection with the sale of a dietary supplement that was deceptively marketed.
Selling Lipoban
Sarcona promoted Lipoban, a dietary supplement that was said to help people lose weight without diet and exercise. To make it seem like a legitimate product, he mailed letters to prospects asking them to be a part of an exclusive nationwide test of the product, which required participants to purchase the pills.
The literature mailed to prospects included a letter from Joseph Maya, who was supposed to be the medical director of the Lipoban Clinic, as well as information that claimed other doctors had endorsed the product and that a team of weight loss and nutrition professionals worked at the clinic.
The truth of the matter
In reality, the “clinic” was in the home of another defendant and the company had an office in an industrial park. There was no Dr. Joseph Maya, though there is a Jose Maya, who isn’t licensed to practice medicine in Florida, only in Mexico. What’s more, he never actually performed any services for the clinic.
Almost everyone contacted by Sarcona’s company was told they would be patient 731 in order to make the program look exclusive. There were no medical professionals involved in the clinic and none of the doctors named in promotional materials had actually used the product.
The jury ruled that Sarcona and others defrauded more than 100,000 consumers across the United States of more than $16 million. He also funneled money from the scheme into the bank account of a defunct corporation and used that as his personal bank account. Some of the money was used to buy property in the Virgin Islands, which has since been seized by the government.
Sarcona will be sentenced in January.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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