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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
P04-63
June 22, 2004
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Lengthy Jail Sentence for Vendor of Laetrile—A Quack
Medication to Treat Cancer Patients. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has announced the outcome of its
investigative efforts by the Office of Criminal
Investigations, conducted jointly with the United States
Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Eastern District of New
York and the New York Division of the United States Postal
Inspection Service (USPIS), to bring to justice a
businessman who had victimized cancer patients by heavily
advertising and selling Laetrile, a highly toxic product
that has not shown any effect on treating cancer.
Jason Vale, president of the New York-based Christian
Brothers Contracting Corp., was sentenced on June 18, 2004
to 63 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release
by a United States District Court in the Eastern District
of New York.
"There is no scientific evidence that Laetrile offers
anything but false hope to cancer patients, some of whom
have used it instead of conventional treatment until it was
too late for that treatment to be effective," said
Dr. Lester M. Crawford, Acting FDA Commissioner. "This
sentence sends a strong message that we will not
tolerate marketing of bogus medicines."
Following the investigation by FDA, the USAO, and the USPIS,
the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of New York
placed Vale's illegal sales and promotion of Laetrile --
also known as amygdalin, "Vitamin B-17", or apricot pits --
under injunction in April 2000. Defying the court order,
Vale set up a shell corporation in Arizona, and continued to
ship the product from the basement of his own home to
customers passed on to him by his New York firm. For these
activities, Vale was found guilty 11 months ago of three
counts of criminal contempt, and ordered to be held without
bail pending his sentencing.
Last week, the court also found that Vale, who had made at
least $500,000 from his illegal sales of Laetrile, had
committed fraud in his marketing of Laetrile. In addition,
Vale defrauded the U.S. government by claiming that he
qualified for Legal Aid. As a result, Vale was ordered to
reimburse the government $31,000 for the costs of his
appointed defense attorney.