A La Mesa-based company and its owners pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges for selling a product with false claims that it could eradicate viruses, including the one that causes COVID-19.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the sanitation company, Integral Hygienic Solutions, Inc. – doing business as TruClean – claimed its TruClean 365 product could eliminate the virus behind COVID-19, as well as other viruses and bacteria for one year when applied on surfaces.
However, prosecutors say that when the pandemic began in early 2020, the defendants actually bought bottles of chemical products from a different company, then placed TruClean’s labels on them.
The company claimed in its marketing that TruClean 365 had undergone “rigorous testing” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which validated that TruClean 365 provided year-round protection against virus infections.
In its plea, the defendants admitted selling more than $800,000 worth of the products, which by law should have been registered as pesticides by the EPA, but weren’t.
U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman faulted the defendants for trying “to gain commercial advantage” during the pandemic by making false claims that the federal government had validated their cleaner.
– City News Service