7 Arrested In Puerto Rico Cancer Cure Scam

Yaisah Vargas

Associated Press

Mar. 2, 2007 08:52 AM

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A U.S. federal grand jury indicted seven people in a case where terminally ill cancer patients were allegedly injected with a bogus cure made from the patients’ own blood, the U.S. attorney’s office in San Juan announced Thursday.

Four Puerto Ricans, including two doctors and a businessman, were arrested Thursday in the U.S. Caribbean territory, and a Uruguayan doctor was arrested in Florida, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Two Uruguayan doctors were expected to be extradited from their country.

The suspects allegedly sold some 50 people a fake cancer cure known as Pharma Blood – which consisted of blood that was extracted from the patient then boiled, frozen and processed it, before it was injected back into the patient.

Federal prosecutor Jose Ruiz said the suspects charged $8,000 to $12,900 for each treatment and told the patients it would keep the cancer from spreading.

“These people sold a cancer treatment that was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” Ruiz said at a press conference.

Authorities said most of the patients have died after relying on the phony cure instead of FDA-approved treatments such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

The seven suspects were charged with conspiracy to defraud the FDA and electronic fraud for using the Internet to sell the product. They are also accused of using the mail to send one of the non-approved medicines from Puerto Rico to Miami.

If convicted, the accused face three to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.