O.C. Man’s Fake Cures Mean Prison
A Newport Beach man was sentenced to prison for running a mail-order business that sold fake treatments for impotence, obesity and other conditions.
Leo Leal Daboub, 61, was sentenced Wednesday to 33 months during a federal court hearing in San Diego, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Melanie Pierson.
Daboub was also ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines or forfeit his two homes and pay $69,000 in restitution to victims, Pierson said.
Daboub pleaded guilty to mail fraud and admitted that his advertising falsely promised a money-back guarantee and claimed the treatments were recommended by doctors.
The products were sold as Energy Complex, Live Cell Therapy, Neutralizer GH and Zellen Cell Therapy as treatments for impotence, degenerative brain disease, liver disease and obesity.
Daboub’s Zellen Cell Live Therapy was added in 1988 to the Food and Drug Administration’s import alert as a drug that was not approved and could not be imported to the United States. The business was conducted from Tijuana, Mexico, but the checks were cashed in San Diego, Pierson said.
Daboub’s wife, Maria Daboub, and his son, Leo Gutierrez Daboub, also pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the fraud and are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19.
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