West Palm Beach Company and Owners Charged with Conspiracy to Commit Fraud in Connection with Bogus Septic Tank Products
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Arthur A. Elkins, Jr., Inspector General, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General (EPA-OIG), announced the filing of an Information of FBK Products, LLC., Gary Kranz, 48, and Marc Rona, 43, all of Pam Beach County, on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. In addition, Steven Kranz, 50, also of Pam Beach County, was charged with misprision of a felony, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 4.
According to the charging documents and statements made in court, FBK, Gary Kranz, Marc Rona, and Steven Kranz, in concert with managers and employees of FBK, knowingly participated in a scheme to fraudulently market and sell an unnecessary septic treatment product to customers throughout the continental United States from March 2009 through October 2010. According to the charges, FBK, G. Kranz, and Rona conspired to use the name FBK and Septic Remedy in sales pitches to customers across the United States. In these sales pitches, the defendants and their co-conspirators fraudulently claimed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were affiliated with the septic treatment product, sold by telephone under the name Septic Remedy. Based on these misrepresentations, some elderly customers allegedly purchased more than seventy years’ worth of Septic Remedy.
Mr. Ferrer commended the efforts of EPA-OIG in this investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman O. Hemming, III.
An Information is only an accusation and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
