Meridian Sciences Inc.: An Old Scam In a New Bottle

• Two of the principals of Meridian Sciences, David Gann and Dr. Shui-Yin Lo, were involved in a previous "homeopathic crystals" scam perpetrated by American Technologies Group. With Meridian Sciences, Gann and Lo appear to have simply changed the name of their snake oil from "IE crystals" to "MC crystals".

• Read more about American Technologies Group (ATG) and their magic crystals in this interview with ATG founder John Collins.

• Financial documents explaining Meridian's private equity placement are available here. See particularly this corporate overview, which makes claims about discovering a new physical state of water that any scientifically literate person will recognize as ridiculous. Similar claims were made by Dr. Lo more than a decade ago when he was at ATG, leading to an investigation by the Oregon Attorney General.

• A competing homeopathic fuel treatment scam is currently being run by the Carroll brothers under the name BioFriendly Green Plus. Dr. Lo previously worked for the Carroll brothers.

• The web site of the Meridian Sciences Foundation for Wellness and Treatment, now offline (but see this archived version), contains outlandish scientific claims and an attempt to sell memberships in a clinical trial! According to Meridian CFO and Director Bill Owens, the web site belonged to a minority investor who had access to "confidential internal documentation and proprietary information" (his words), but created the site without the company's knowledge or approval. Owens says this nonprofit foundation was to be a separate organization from Meridian Sciences Inc., created and controlled by this minority investor, but it never actually came into existence.

• Also according to Owens, Meridian asked that the site come down because it contained inaccuracies and content the company deemed unacceptable. But the basis of the site was clearly Meridian's own materials. The contents of this site are so disturbing that it raises questions about the sanity of all parties involved. Most noteworthy are the sections labeled Testimonials, Services, Clinical Trials, and Cancer.

• Some questions I asked Bill Owens (and received no answer):
  • It is claimed on the MeridianSciences.org web site that someone named Jim Franklin was instantly cured of a previously untreatable esophageal condition when he was given water "prescribed by Dr. Lo." For how long has Dr. Lo been practicing medicine in California? [Lo does not have a medical license.]
  • The web site also claims that Meridian Sciences Inc. has been conducting "clinical trials" of the Life Crystal. According to the site, one such trial lasted 45 days and involved 9 human subjects. Who has been supervising these trials, and what are their qualifications to do so?

• The person who actually built the web site is a 2007 law school graduate now working on passing the California bar. His name is on the site, but he claims it was just there as a temporary placeholder for the unnamed investor who would be running the foundation.