'Modern day snake oil salesman' masquerading as doctor with 'Silver Miracle' cure for COVID-19 locked up for years after representing self at trial

Gordon Pedersen on his My Doctor Suggests website (court exhibit).

A 64-year-old Cedar Hills, Utah, man who generated millions of dollars from 2012 to 2020 by masquerading as a licensed medical doctor through his My Doctor Suggests operation, hawking a “Silver Miracle” cure for anything from the flu to diabetes to pneumonia — even COVID-19 — is going to federal prison for three years for fraud.

The court docket reviewed by Law&Crime shows Gordon Hunter Pedersen, dubbed a “modern day snake oil salesman” by the feds, chose to represent himself in court — albeit with standby counsel available to him — and that he ultimately pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial in mid-March, admitting to mail fraud, a felony, and to a misdemeanor for introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead.

According to a sentencing memo filed by the government, Pedersen used the U.S. Postal Service to send fooled consumers “silver lozenges, silver probiotics, silver soap, silver mouthwash and silver gel,” products that he represented as a “The Greatest Tool for Restoring and Protecting Health Ever Discovered by Science” in a book called “The Silver Miracle.”

“The Silver Miracle” book Gordon Pedersen sent defrauded customers (court exhibit).

But while Pedersen wore a lab coat in online ads, this was an “inherently fraudulent” scam that exploited the COVID-19 fears of buyers for profit.

“To make money, Gordon Pedersen posed as a practicing medical doctor, lied about his credentials, and exaggerated the palliative abilities of his consumer products containing silver,” the memo said. “The name for that is fraud.”

“Through platforms such as YouTube and other advertising means, he marketed Silver Products as intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in a person,” prosecutors said. “He proceeded to sell Silver Products through different companies including the LLC MDS (My Doctor Suggests), where Mr. Pedersen was a 25% owner.”

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Of note, the My Doctor Suggests company made roughly $6,110,473 from 2018 to 2020, prosecutors said, emphasizing that the estimate is “wholly conservative” considering that they don’t know how much in sales revenue was raked in from 2012 to 2017.

“A huge spike in sales was a very likely result of the deliberate and heavy marketing done by Mr. Pedersen claiming that his products could act as a protection from the Coronavirus,” the sentencing memo continued, noting that Pedersen “does not actually hold any” of the credentials he claimed to have. “He does possess a diploma from Trinity School of Natural Health which designated him as a ‘Doctor of Naturopathy,’ however, he later admitted in an interview with the FDA that this institution is an online school that is ‘less than accredited.'”

“He is not board certified in any field by the American Board of Medical Specialties,” the government flatly stated.

Prosecutors said that the evidence showed that Pedersen successfully tricked people fearful of COVID-19 into paying for his silver products.

“At the time, the world was struggling to navigate the vast effects of the pandemic on a global scale, providing the perfect environment for swindlers to market fake remedies to an immensely vulnerable and desperate population,” the memo said. “Pedersen is none other than one of these reprehensible swindlers.”

While Pedersen did not have a criminal record prior to this case, the government used his ex-wife’s “recollection” of his “egotistical fixation on receiving attention” and other behavior against him for the purposes of sentencing:

Mr. Pedersen’s daughter confirmed that her father had historically represented himself as an active member of his community and church, a charismatic and caring individual who was loved by everyone in the neighborhood. She also remembers him as a fun and involved father, who spent time with his children and treated them to vacations even after he and his ex-wife divorced. However, there is a sharp disparity in the way his children remember him compared to the recollection of his ex-wife. Ms. Sidwell reports that Mr. Pedersen has a longstanding reputation for deceitful and concerning conduct. She asserted that his many medical credentials are all fraudulent, and that he repeatedly stalked her after they separated. She also attested that he has an egotistical fixation on receiving attention. An objective assessment of Mr. Pedersen’s history and characteristics supports the United States’ sentencing recommendation in this case.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge David Barlow sentenced Pedersen to serve three years in prison, recommending that he do his time in Arizona “to facilitate family visitation if it is consistent with paramount concerns for treatment of defendant’s medical issues.”

The post ‘Modern day snake oil salesman’ masquerading as doctor with ‘Silver Miracle’ cure for COVID-19 locked up for years after representing self at trial first appeared on Law & Crime .