Cupping a white pill in his palm, Keith Middlebrook told his 2.4 million followers on Instagram, “If I walk in the Staples Center and everyone is testing coronavirus-positive, OK, I can’t contract it.”
The muscled, spray-tanned and self-described “Genius Entrepreneur” cupped a white pill in his palm, then told his 2.4 million followers on Instagram: “If I walk in the Staples Center and everyone is testing coronavirus-positive, OK, I can’t contract it.”
Madison MacDonald, an FBI agent in Los Angeles, reviewed texts Middlebrook sent the informant. “Investors who come in at ground level say $1m will parachute with $200m to $300m,” one message said, MacDonald wrote in an affidavit. The FBI contacted Christina Francis, president of Magic Johnson Enterprises. Francis spoke with the former Lakers star and reported back, the affidavit said: Johnson has no involvement with Middlebrook or his businesses and had “never met, spoken to or seen this individual.”Last week, Middlebrook had taken to his public Instagram account to declare that “after studying cell tissue and chemical biology for many years,” he had created a cure for COVID-19.
The day after their call, the purported investor followed up. Middlebrook said he’d secured seven more investors since they last talked, each of whom had pledged an average of $750,000 to $1 million, the affidavit said. The investor and his mother could get the “prevention pills” once he’d wired a $9,999 deposit, Middlebrook said, according to the affidavit.
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