CEO Charged With Scams in 15-Second COVID Test Scheme

Keith Berman, the CEO of Decision Diagnostics Corporation (DECN), was prosecuted for securities fraud after financiers bought stock in his business hoping to profit from a revolutionary COVID-19 test which, in truth, did not exist.

Berman claimed that his company had developed a test that might spot COVID-19 from a drop of blood within 15 seconds. Berman informed investors through press releases that the test would be prepared for the industrial market in the summer season of 2020 and raised millions of dollars in funds to support the product.

Choice Diagnostics Corporation CEO Keith Berman was charged with securities scams in connection with promoting a non-existent COVID-19 test.
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Berman apparently created the story to attract financial backing for his failing company. Financiers were allegedly notified that DECN’s COVID-19 test was on the verge of being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That news caused DECN’s stocks to increase by more than 1,500 percent between March and April of 2020.

DECN had not made an application for the government approvals or waivers required to market its supposed COVID-19 test. The Korean supplier that Berman had used to establish the test notified Berman that the innovation used in the screening kit might not actually find COVID-19 This info was not revealed to investors.

Using the alias “plutoniumimplosion,” Berman supposedly hyped DECN on web online forums to offer incorrect information to investors. According to the Department of Justice, Berman published that the demand for DECN’s screening packages would be near 3 billion units. Berman allegedly denied making the posts while testifying before the SEC.

Berman was charged with one count of securities scams and one count of making incorrect statements. Newsweek connected to DECN for remark.

Blood-testing chicanery likewise resulted in the closure of Theranos, which declared to possess innovation that could perform any blood test with a sample just consisting of a couple of drops of blood. At one point, Theranos was reported to be worth $9 billion. After reports surfaced that the technology did not measure up to the business’s claims, potentially providing incorrect test results, Theranos closed its doors in 2018.

Theranos creator Elizabeth Holmes and previous Theranos CEO Ramesh Balwani were charged with 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire scams and nine counts of wire scams in2018 Both Holmes and Balwani pleaded innocent.