Businessmen accused of selling dangerous pesticide with false promise to eliminate COVID-19 – Telemundo New York (47)

NEW YORK – Two College Point, Queens businessmen are accused of taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to sell dangerous pesticide-laden products that, according to the duo’s promise to customers, were created to disinfect the air and eliminate the virus, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Po Shan Wong, 55, and Zhen Wu, 35, sold pesticide-soaked cards on the premise that they could replace face masks to slow the spread of the virus, according to a criminal complaint.

The duo sold the products online, over the phone and via Facebook from a business on 22nd Avenue in College Point, using images of people using the dangerous credit card-sized product. In one image it is seen attached to a drawstring in the lapel of a man’s jacket and in another to a pram, prosecutors said.

The defendants posted on Facebook, according to court records, that the cards emitted chlorine dioxide and disinfected the air around the person using them.

Chlorine dioxide is a pesticide and bleaching agent known to cause shortness of breath and damage to tissues and organs. There is no evidence that it has an effect on the COVID-19 virus.

“The blatantly false claims that the defendants allegedly made about their product endangered the public not only by claiming to protect against the COVID-19 virus, but also by exposing users to the health hazard posed by a mislabeled pesticide, “Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement. “The Justice Department is working closely with its law enforcement partners to protect the public from those who take advantage of the global pandemic to get rich.”

Wong and Wu face charges of conspiracy to distribute and sell one or more pesticides that are not registered with the United States Environmental Protection agency and that are adulterated or mislabeled.

If convicted, each of them could face up to a year in prison.

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