MAN SENT TO PRISON FOR SELLING PESTICIDE

A San Diego man who pleaded guilty to federal charges related to unlawfully importing, selling and mailing an unregistered pesticide product from Japan marketed for its purported ability to kill airborne viruses like COVID-19 was sentenced Friday to eight months in prison.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the product, Ecoairdoctor, was represented to emit a gas that would kill viruses within a certain distance, and was falsely described as an air purifier, rather than a pesticide. The product consisted of a badge that consumers could clip to their clothing and would release chlorine dioxide into the air, according to prosecutors.

Samir Haj, 47, admitted to selling the product despite lacking the proper registration, as required for pesticides in the United States, as well as falsely declaring the product’s value when importing it to the United States, resulting in an underpayment of customs duty of $33,919, prosecutors said.

The product was also shipped to customers despite containing sodium chlorite, which cannot be mailed under U.S. postal rules and regulations due to its propensity to cause fires and explosions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Though one package was rejected by the Postal Service because it contained a “hazardous and unmailable substance,” prosecutors said more than 300 additional packages were mailed out.

According to the prosecution’s sentencing papers, Haj and his San Diego-based company, Ecoshield LLC, made more than $1.1 million from the badges’ sales, both in and outside of the United States.

“This product not only didn’t work, but it was even potentially harmful,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “The defendant and his company will be held to account for cashing in on COVID fears during a global pandemic.”

As part of the plea agreements, Haj and Ecoshield also agreed to forfeit $427,689, the proceeds from the sale of Ecoairdoctor. The company also agreed to pay a fine of $42,000, with $86,754 to be paid in restitution for the unpaid duty and cost of disposing the products that were not sold.