An Orange County man and part-time actor received a sentence of over eight years in federal prison for his involvement in soliciting investments in fraudulent COVID-19 cure and treatment companies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California.
Keith Lawrence Middlebrook, a 57-year-old resident of Huntington Beach, has been sentenced to federal custody after being found guilty of his crimes. In addition to his prison sentence, Middlebrook has also been fined $25,000. The Department has ordered him to begin serving his sentence immediately.
In March 2020, Middlebrook reached out to potential investors in California, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Colorado through text messages, videos, and posts on YouTube and Instagram. He claimed to have a cure for COVID-19, according to the department.
According to the office, Middlebrook marketed a supposed COVID treatment called “QP20” and referred to this alleged cure as “QC20”.
According to the department, Middlebrook asserted that he personally created a cure and a preventive treatment for coronavirus, which he claimed to be patent-pending.
Middlebrook deceived investors by making false promises while soliciting investments in multiple companies, according to the office.
The claims made by him were quite extraordinary. He promised miraculous results from his products, guaranteed enormous returns on investments, and even falsely stated that Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers star, was a director and officer of his company.
The office stated that Middlebrook enticed victims to invest their money by offering them significant returns.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer sentenced Middlebrook after finding that he had obstructed justice by lying on the witness stand about his alleged relationship and business dealings with Johnson, the department confirmed.
Middlebrook falsely claimed that a party in Dubai had offered $10 billion to purchase his companies, which, according to him, would secure the funds of the victim-investors, the department stated.
According to the office, he also made a false statement about seven investors who allegedly pledged between $750,000 and $1 million each.
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