Omaha Company and Company President Sentenced for Covid Related Crimes

United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced today that Quin Global, an entity incorporated in Nebraska, was sentenced on August 30, 2024, in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska for mail fraud and selling an unregistered pesticide. Matthew Petersen, age 39, of Omaha, the President of Quin Global, was sentenced for selling an unregistered pesticide. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Quin Global to a total term of 2 years' probation and ordered Quinn Global to pay a $390,000 fine and $520 in special assessments. Matthew Petersen was sentenced to a 1-year term of probation and was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and a $25 special assessment.

"The defendants in this case perpetuated one of the largest COVID-19 fraud cases related to the sale of unregistered pesticides in the country," said Special Agent in Charge Lance Ehrig of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division in Nebraska. "Today's sentencing demonstrates that individuals and corporations will be held criminally responsible for profiting from false claims that preyed upon public health concerns during a global pandemic and for failing to ensure the integrity and safety of their products."

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. § 136 et seq., regulates the distribution, sale, and use of all pesticides in the United States, including antimicrobial pesticides. Antimicrobial pesticides are substances used to destroy or suppress the growth of harmful microorganisms - such as the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 - on inanimate objects and surfaces. All pesticides distributed or sold in the United States must be registered by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). Registrants of antimicrobial pesticide products that claim to control microbes that pose a threat to public health must additionally submit efficacy data to support these public health claims.

Quin Global is located in Omaha and is a manufacturer of adhesive and tool systems. Matthew Petersen is the President of Quin Global. In March 2020, Quin Global began efforts to expand its business by manufacturing and selling pesticides. Quin Global initially contacted a company formerly known as Lonza, Inc. seeking to become a supplemental distributor of Lonza Inc.'s product Formulation HWS-64. Lonza, Inc. informed Quin Global that it would take months to enter into a legally permissible agreement.

In response, Quin Global purchased the product from, Buckeye International, a supplemental distributor of Lonza, Inc. The product Quin Global purchased from Buckeye International was being marketed as Buckeye Sanicare Lemon Quat. Quin Global began diluting and repackaging this product into its own proprietary pressurized canister and application systems. Quin Global sold this diluted product as a Quin Global product named Ramsol-RS1 which it marketed as being "EPA-approved" and as being effective against the COVID virus. The product being sold by Quin Global was not "EPA-approved" nor was it registered with the EPA pursuant to FIFRA since Quin Global never sought registration for the product.

In April 2020, Quin Global consulted a regulatory consultant, Delta Analytical, regarding the feasibility of registering Ramsol-RS1 product, which Quin Global was already manufacturing and distributing. Quin Global was informed of the requirements and did not seek to comply with the required EPA FIFRA registration requirements.

From April 2020 through July 2020, Quin Global distributed Ramsol-RS1 to 73 of its distributors in the United States of America and Canada. These distributors then supplied the product to their own retail customers. Quin Global received numerous inquiries from customers about the product's validity and efficacy. Quin Global repeatedly assured their customers that its product would be effective against viruses and cited to the EPA registration for the Lonza/Buckeye product.

Lonza's Formulation HWS-64 was listed on the EPA's List N in March of 2020 as being approved for use against SARS-CoV-2 with the instructions that the product be utilized in accordance with directions for use against Adenovirus Type 7. Similarly, Buckeye Sanicare Lemon Quat was also listed on the EPA's List N for use against SARS-CoV-2 at a specified concentration. For most of its accepted disinfection uses it is to be diluted at a 1/64 concentration, or 2 ounces per gallon of water. For Adenovirus Type 7 it is to be used at a higher concentration dilution of 8 ounces per gallon of water.

On or about April 24, 2020, Quin Global shipped 72 22-liter containers and 20 7-L containers of Ramsol-RS1 from Omaha to a downstream distributor, Chemical Concepts Inc., in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, using R&L carriers a commercial interstate carrier.

In June 2020, investigators with the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division conducted undercover purchases of 7-liter canisters of Ramsol-RS1 from Chemical Concepts and Panther East in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chemical Concepts and Panther East are downstream distributors for Quin Global.

The two 7-Liter canisters of Ramsol-RS1 that were purchased from Chemical Concepts and Panther East were sent to the EPA National Enforcement Investigation Center (NEIC) for further testing. The NEIC found Quin Global's product to be significantly diluted, with active ingredients being diluted more than 100 times than the product should be if diluted at 8 ounces per gallon. The Ramsol-RS1 product was also diluted well beyond what it should have been if diluted at 2 oz per gallon of water with active ingredients being diluted more than 25 times what they should have been. Ramsol-RS1 was diluted to a point well beyond efficacy against viruses and, specifically, the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Between April 2020 and July 2020, Quin Global, advertising this product as being EPA approved and as being effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, sold approximately $1.4 million worth of Ramsol-RS1 and $185,000 in related equipment. Specifically, Quin Global sold 1,148 7-liter containers and 3,363 22-liter containers. Quin Global stopped sales after being confronted by the EPA.

This case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division.