A North Bay naturopathic doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday to selling bogus COVID-19 immunization treatments and hundreds of fraudulent vaccination cards that made it appear customers were receiving Moderna shots, federal prosecutors said.
Juli A. Mazi, 41, of Napa, pleaded guilty in federal court in San Francisco to one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters, the US Justice Department said in a statement. release.
The case was the first federal criminal prosecution for fraud related to fraudulent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination cards for COVID-19, the department said.
Mazi provided fake CDC vaccination cards for COVID-19 to at least 200 people with instructions on how to fill out the cards to make it look like they had received a Moderna vaccine, federal prosecutors said.
He also sold homeopathic granules that he fraudulently claimed would provide “lifelong immunity to COVID-19.” She told customers that the pellets contained small amounts of the virus and would create an antibody response, they said.
“This doctor violated the public’s trust in health care professionals, at a time when integrity was most needed,” Deputy Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said, raising false fears and false evidence of vaccination. ”.
Mazi also offered the pellets instead of childhood vaccinations required to attend school and sold at least 100 fake vaccination cards that said children had been vaccinated, knowing the documents would be sent to schools, authorities said.
Federal officials opened an investigation against Mazi after receiving a complaint in April 2021 on the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General hotline.
Mazi is scheduled to be sentenced on July 29.
–
