Federal Court Orders Vale To Five-Year Sentence in Prison

[Guest guest]

Sell an apricot seed, go to prison. Defraud the country out of billions, hey

come on over to the ranch for breakfast. Next it might be randomized searches in

our homes for those " illegal substances " like vitamins and those " subversive "

health books.

 

 

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1862 & dept_id=152512 & newsid=12084174 & PAG=4\

61 & rfi=9

 

Federal Court Orders Vale To Five-Year Sentence in Prison

by Jess Wisloski, Chronicle Correspondent

 

June 24, 2004The Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, where Jason Vale was sentenced

on Friday.

 

Jason Vale, the Internet entrepreneur from Bellerose who has been

incarcerated since last August on charges of illegal sales of apricot seeds as a

cure for cancer, was sentenced last Friday at Brooklyn federal court to five

years and three months in prison.

 

Vale, 36, had built a modestly successful empire by selling his products as

alternative medicine for cancer. He spammed over 20- million AOL customers

(which landed him a separate fine of $1 million by AOL) and claimed his methods

could cure “99.95 percent” of all cancer cases.

 

It was the spamming which initiated the FDA investigation, when AOL members

complained about the excessive e-mails, not the drug itself. Much of his own

argument during the sentencing came from the fact that the company had yet to

receive a single complaint from users of its products.

 

The sentencing was expected by Vale’s family members to only address the

“criminal contempt” charges which Vale incurred after continuing the seed

company even after he had been prohibited by court order.

 

His enterprise, even after his initial arrest four years ago, continued to do

well after he was jailed. Instead of bringing company activity to a halt, the

court contends that he continued the business through alias names and by

enlisting the help of his family. Family members interviewed have claimed it was

of their own volition.

 

The other, and more serious, charges in question were those of fraud, which

could landed him up to 30 years in prison, instead, for sale of a product that

was fraudulently marketed as a cure for cancer.

 

Vale looked more wan and thin than in pictures that still appear on the Seeds

of Faith Web site (run for his defense fund) as a world championship

arm-wrestler. Throughout the proceedings, he cast long glances toward his

parents, siblings and extended family, who sat in the gallery.

 

Like many of his customers, Vale has also suffered from a cancerous tumor. He

was diagnosed 10 years ago and resorted to alternative medicine when

chemotherapy failed to reduce his tumor. What he discovered is what he now

contends, even from behind bars, is a veritable miracle.

 

According to Vale, his tumor shrunk when he started ingesting apricot seeds

and Laetrile. He found the “cure” while researching alternative medicine

treatments after he was diagnosed and now believes it should be available to all

cancer patients who so desire. The judge didn’t agree.

 

There was some dispute over which guidelines for indictment to use at the

hearing, as the prosecution and judge discussed the implications of sentencing

the defendant with both the “vulnerable victim” or the “criminal contempt”

guidelines, for violating his last court order to stop selling the seeds. This

is despite the judge’s decision at a hearing on May 6th, to not charge the

defendant with fraud.

 

Much of the prosecution’s success came down to semantics. Although Vale

wasn’t charged by the FDA for making fraudulent remarks or selling a faulty

drug, in Judge John Gleeson’s opinion fraud referred to faulty and unqualified

statements, such as “99.95 percent effective,” which he said Vale used knowing

they were misleading. “While I believe you think it is a useful drug in

prevention of cancer, I do not think you truly believed it was 99.95 percent

effective,” Judge Gleeson said.

 

Another point of contention was that although they had agreed to use the

“vulnerable victim” guidelines (not the ones for “obstruction of justice”), Vale

piped up that there were no victims since not one complaint arose from the

thousands of orders they had filled.

 

Judge Gleeson argued that there were many complaints, even though those were

from AOL members in regards to being “spammed” with his advertisements. Vale

argued that they weren’t harmed by the drug and felt it was an entirely

different thing, but Judge Gleeson said, “That is harmful.”

 

Vale plans to appeal, but in the meantime he requested transfer from jail in

Valhalla to a penitentiary in Florida, which Judge Gleeson agreed to recommend.

 

Outside the courtroom, his brother, Jared, sounded optimistic. “He’s got a

good attitude, obviously, given his little remarks,” he said. “Regardless of

what the judge says, everyone who knows Jason believes that he believes in this

1,000 percent regardless of whatever interpretation the judge may have.”

 

On whether he thought the judgment was fair, Vale’s brother was mostly

relieved that it wasn’t the maximum sentence of 30 years for fraud.

 

“It was very good that they took off the table 200 some-odd months,” which he

said would help the family cope. “You go between 20 and 30 years to arguing

between one and six, that’s a lot easier on the family.”

 

Vale’s own tumor, which has gone untreated since his incarceration is another

issue, to both Vale’s family and the court’s consideration. Judge Gleeson found,

through a court-appointed doctor’s evaluation, that he still had the tumor and

the judge admitted it had set his mind at ease that Vale was at least honestly

convinced of the apricot seeds’ value.

 

Vale has announced that, despite the potential of the tumor creating a life

sentence for him while he is incarcerated, he is refusing traditional methods of

treatment and will not accept chemotherapy or removal of the tumor.

 

The only option for treatment, in his mind, is apricot seeds. Jared Vale

believes Jason would die for this cause.

 

“It definitely grew. Significantly,” Jared Vale said. “The doctor’s test

shows that. That was one of the reasons why the judge showed a little bit of

understanding to Jason even though he called him a fraud.”