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Maryland Businessman Sentenced for Illegally Marketing Aloe Vera Compounds as AIDS and Cancer Treatments

The U.S. District Court of Maryland in Baltimore has sentenced Allen J. Hoffman to 46 months in prison and ordered him to pay $222,506 in restitution for selling aloe vera mixtures as treatment for AIDS, cancer and other auto-immune diseases in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Hoffman pleaded guilty to two felony counts of introduction of an unapproved new drug into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud the public. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, it is illegal to market a drug that has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of specific illnesses.

Hoffman, doing business as T-Up, Inc., of Baltimore, Md., and Astec Biologics, Inc. of Hanover, Pa., charged cancer patients and their families up to $18,000 for a two-week treatment with intravenous aloe vera. He also sold bottled combinations of aloe vera and other unapproved drugs to treat auto-immune diseases. More than 3,000 people purchased products from Hoffman, who falsely claimed to have a doctoral degree.

This case was investigated by FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the Maryland State Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection.

The sentence was announced by U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson.

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