A
sketchy California doctor who duped patients out of $1.3 million [over
200million naira] by selling them herbal remedies she said cured cancer
has been convicted.
Christine
Daniel, 58, will spend the next 14 years in prison – and has been
ordered to pay back all of the cash — for the disgusting scam.
The
L.A. medic told sufferers to avoid chemotherapy and pain killers — and
instead charged them up to $100,000 for six months of her unique
treatment.
She
claimed her concoction had a 60% to 80% chance of success in overcoming
advance stages of cancer and could also cure diabetes and multiple
sclerosis.
But her remedies — which she claimed had been tailored individually for each patient — were completely bogus.
Experts
testified that the potion — made up of sunscreen preservative, beef
extract flavoring and various other ingredients — would have no effect
on cancer or any other diseases.
It meant patients were deprived of proper treatment and had to endure the final months of their lives in “absolute agony.”
“Daniel
robbed victims of more than money, she also stole their hopes and
dreams for a cure,” U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said after Daniel
was sentenced.
U.S.
District Judge Robert Timlin charged Daniel with four counts of mail
and wire fraud, six counts of tax evasion and one count of witness
tampering.
The
court heard from 28 former patients and family members of cancer
sufferers who had died as a result of the ruse, reports the Washington
Post.
Daniel
told Paula Middlebrooks, who she charged nearly $60,000, that she was
free from the disease after five months of treatment.
But, in reality, her breast cancer had spread and she died soon after.
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