SAN FRANCISCO — A naturopathic physician in Northern California is accused by the Department of Justice of selling fake COVID-19 immunization treatments and falsifying COVID-19 vaccination cards.

Juli Mazi is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters. According to the Department of Justice, this is the first federal criminal fraud prosecution associated with fraudulent CDC vaccination cards and homeoprophylaxis immunizations.

“This defendant allegedly defrauded and endangered the public by preying on fears and spreading misinformation about FDA-authorized vaccinations, while also peddling fake treatments that put people’s lives at risk. Even worse, the defendant allegedly created counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards and instructed her customers to falsely mark that they had received a vaccine, allowing them to circumvent efforts to contain the spread of the disease,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco in a press release.

Investigators became aware of Mazi after a person submitted a claim to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General hotline.

The person said a family member had purchased COVID-19 homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets from Mazi. Mazi allegedly told the family member "the pellets contained the COVID-19 virus and would create an antibody response in the immune system," according to prosecutors.

Mazi also allegedly sent the family member a CDC COVID-19 vaccination record card that was marked to indicate the recipient had received the Moderna vaccine, when no vaccine had been given. Mazi allegedly told the person to put the dates they took the pellets as the dates of receiving the vaccine shots.

Prosecutors allege Mazi had a pre-existing scheme of selling so-called immunization pellets and that she allegedly exploited vaccine disinformation to sell more.