While Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were arrested in Bradenton, Mark and Joseph Grenon fled to Colombia. They were later arrested in Colombia and eventually extradited back to the United States, according to the Associated Press.
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Officials believe Mark Grenon’s decision to sell MMS as a religious sacrament was intended to leverage legal protections afforded to religious institutions.
In a statement released shortly after Grenon and his sons were charged in July 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, “Defendant Mark Grenon, the co-founder of Genesis, has repeatedly acknowledged that Genesis ‘has nothing to do with religion,’ and that he founded Genesis to ‘legalize the use of MMS’ and avoid ‘going [ ] to jail.’”
“The Genesis websites further stated that MMS could be acquired only through a ‘donation’ to Genesis, but the donation amounts for MMS orders were set at specific dollar amounts, and were mandatory, such that the donation amounts were effectively just sales prices,” the statement went on to say. “The indictment alleges that the Grenons received more than $1 million from selling MMS.”
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The Grenons are representing themselves in court but declined to make opening statements as the trial began Monday (July 17), the Miami Herald reported. Prosecutors depicted the four defendants as “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen.”
