NorCal Naturopathic Doctor Pleads Guilty In Fake COVID Vaccination Card Scheme, Feds Say

NAPA, CA — A Napa naturopathic doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco to scheming to sell homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets and for falsifying COVID-19 vaccination cards by making it appear that customers had received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-authorized Moderna vaccine, the U.S. Attorney's Office of Northern California said.

Juli Mazi, 41, of Napa, was arrested in July 2021 in what federal authorities said was the first federal criminal case related to homeoprophylaxis immunizations and fraudulent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC — COVID-19 vaccination record cards.

"Juli Mazi has admitted that she engaged in a scheme to sell fake health care records to her customers," said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds. "Mazi made profits by selling false immunization cards she knew would be used to mislead schools into believing students had been immunized from childhood illnesses as required by law. Mazi also sold fake COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards suggesting she administered the Moderna vaccine to her customers when, in fact, she had not. Mazi’s fake health care records scheme endangered the health and well-being of students and the general public at a time when confidence in our public health system is of critical importance."

Following an investigation by the FBI's San Francisco Field Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's —HHS-OIG — San Francisco Regional Office, the Office of the United States Attorney charged Mazi with one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements related to health care matters.

Under a plea agreement filed Wednesday, Mazi pleaded guilty to both counts.

Patch was not immediately able to reach Mazi for comment.

According to court documents, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General — HHS-OIG — received a complaint in April 2021 from a member of the public that Mazi was offering homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets which she claimed would provide lifelong protection from COVID-19. Mazi also provided fake CDC COVID-19 vaccination record cards with instructions on how to complete the cards to make them falsely appear to be records of the FDA-authorized Moderna vaccine. The investigation revealed that Mazi provided fake CDC COVID-19 vaccination cards for more than 200 individuals.

According to court documents, Mazi also offered homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets in place of childhood vaccinations required for attendance at school. Mazi provided her patients with deceptive "immunization" cards which she knew would be submitted to schools, and which fraudulently indicated that authorized vaccines had been administered. The investigation revealed that Mazi provided these fake immunization cards to more than 100 people.

"The defendant spread inaccurate medical information about COVID-19 for personal gain, clearly taking advantage of a situation that had made our community vulnerable," said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Tim Stone. "As the government worked to provide accurate and relevant information during the pandemic, Mazi took advantage of the situation and chose to line her own pockets with profits from fraudulent vaccine documents and medicine, abusing the trust placed in her as a medical professional. The FBI will not tolerate such an abuse of trust."

Mazi is scheduled to be sentenced July 29 in San Francisco. She faces a maximum statutory prison sentence of 20 years for the wire fraud charge and five years for the false statements charge. In addition, each charge carries a maximum $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release.