Pam Bondi Drops Surgeon’s COVID-19 Fraud Costs, Emboldens Others With Comparable Circumstances — ProPublica

Dr. Kirk Moore had been on trial for 5 days, accused of falsifying COVID-19 vaccination playing cards and throwing away the government-supplied doses.

The Utah plastic surgeon confronted as much as 35 years in jail if the jury discovered him responsible on costs that included conspiracy to defraud the USA. Testimony had paused for the weekend when Moore’s lawyer known as him early one Saturday this July with what felt to him like unbelievable information.

U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi had ordered Utah prosecutors to drop all costs, abruptly ending his two-and-a-half 12 months court docket battle.

“I simply actually collapsed to the ground, and tears rolling down my face,” Moore recalled in a current interview.

Bondi’s announcement marked a placing reversal of how the federal authorities dealt with the prosecution of COVID-19-related fraud below President Joe Biden. It has since emboldened different medical professionals who have been equally charged to contemplate searching for reexaminations of their circumstances. And it signaled the rising clout of medical doctors and politicians who champion what they name “medical freedom,” which rejects fashionable public well being interventions equivalent to vaccine necessities in favor of particular person selection.

Dismissed by the medical institution, this motion has however constructed momentum as mistrust in authorities and medical techniques grew after the coronavirus pandemic. It has additionally gained new affect in Washington, the place longtime vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversees the nation’s well being businesses. As President Donald Trump’s Well being and Human Providers secretary, Kennedy has changed members of a federal vaccine advisory panel along with his personal picks and pushed the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention to limit entry to some vaccines, together with the coronavirus shot. The Trump administration’s evisceration of long-standing federal vaccine pointers and rejection of scientific proof have alarmed the American Medical Affiliation and different skilled medical teams.

Simply days earlier than Bondi’s choice, a federal prosecutor from her division had stood earlier than the jury in Moore’s case and accused him of enrolling within the federal authorities’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution program to be able to “sabotage” it, in keeping with a court docket transcript. She had requested jurors to convict him and to “discover that nobody is above the legislation, not even a plastic surgeon.”

Moore mentioned he’d signed up for this system in Could 2021 to obtain greater than 2,000 free vaccine doses and accompanying proof-of-vaccination playing cards after some companies, nursing houses and the army started requiring such proof for guests and workers. He mentioned his plan was at all times to present vaccine playing cards with out offering the pictures as a result of he wished to supply sufferers a selection to bypass vaccine mandates.

Bondi defined her choice to dismiss the costs on X later that morning, writing that “Dr. Moore gave his sufferers a selection when the federal authorities refused to take action. He didn’t deserve the years in jail he was going through. It ends at this time.”

A spokesperson for Bondi declined to remark past what the legal professional normal posted on social media. The Utah federal legal professional’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Moore was certainly one of not less than 12 well being care professionals charged after giving or promoting fraudulent COVID-19 vaccine playing cards since 2021, in keeping with circumstances recognized by The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica by means of authorities information releases and media clips. These charged embody midwives, nurses, pharmacists and one other surgeon. Eight have been charged in federal court docket by the Biden administration; prosecutors from California, New York and New Jersey introduced state costs in opposition to 4 others.

Apart from Moore, solely certainly one of these well being care staff went to trial: a Chicago pharmacist whom a jury discovered responsible of promoting on eBay clean vaccine playing cards that he had stolen from the Walgreens the place he labored. The remaining pleaded responsible and have been sentenced to a mixture of probation, house arrest and, in a couple of circumstances, jail. Many additionally have been professionally disciplined with fines or suspension of their medical licenses.

Of these 11, the Chicago pharmacist appealed his conviction however the U.S. Supreme Court docket in November declined to listen to his petition; his legal professional advised The Tribune and ProPublica that they’re exploring a presidential pardon. One different well being care employee mentioned she, too, wish to be pardoned by Trump.

A few of these well being care staff, together with these in different professions who have been additionally convicted of vaccine card fraud, began a gaggle known as Covicted Patriot following the dismissal of Moore’s case.

“There are extra of us than Dr. Moore,” they declared in July by means of an X account that payments itself as representing “Justified Felons & Persecuted Patriots who have been victimized by a politically weaponized justice system for offering covid playing cards.”

“We have fun his vindication as we pray for our personal,” they wrote.

Moore mentioned he helps their efforts: “I believe anyone who took the identical stance that I did, in massive measures, needs to be pardoned.”

Brian Dean Abramson, an immunization legislation skilled in Virginia who serves on the board of administrators for the Nationwide Vaccine Regulation Convention, mentioned that medical staff falsifying vaccination playing cards is “completely horrifying” from a public well being perspective. Their actions, he mentioned, gas mistrust of the medical occupation and create blind spots in illness surveillance and response, rising the probability and severity of outbreaks. (A simulation mannequin printed in JAMA in April predicts a reemergence of ailments that had been eradicated in the USA, equivalent to measles, and accompanying deaths because of declining childhood vaccination.)

“This undermines each layer of the system that protects us from infectious illness,” Abramson mentioned. “Vaccination coverage depends on correct data and trustworthy medical participation.”

“Everyone Received What They Wished”

Moore met with The Tribune and ProPublica in his clinic within the Salt Lake Metropolis suburb of Midvale. A neat row of clogs, his most well-liked footwear, lined one wall of his cluttered workplace. The 60-year-old doctor wore black scrubs and a “Trump 2024” rubber bracelet stacked atop a gold chain.

Moore, a licensed doctor in Utah since 2005, doesn’t deny the federal government’s claims: that he gave falsified vaccine playing cards to sufferers, that his workers threw away doses, and that, in some circumstances, he gave youngsters saline pictures as a substitute of the COVID-19 vaccine at their dad and mom’ request.

“All of that stuff is true,” he mentioned.

In an interview that lasted almost two hours, Moore mentioned selecting whether or not to get vaccinated is deeply private and the choice needs to be made between sufferers and their medical doctors — not mandated by authorities or companies. The Trump administration has equally framed vaccination as a private selection in its dismissal of established public well being steering.

Moore referred to COVID-19 vaccines as “bioweapons” a dozen occasions and mentioned he distrusts how rapidly the federal government facilitated the vaccines’ fast growth and distribution. He mentioned he concluded the vaccines have been unsafe after conducting his personal on-line analysis that he mentioned solid doubt on the medical expertise used of their growth and the quantity of testing earlier than the primary doses grew to become accessible below emergency use authorization in December 2020.

The COVID-19 vaccine was developed in document time throughout Trump’s first time period, lower than a 12 months after federal authorities declared a public well being emergency — a feat Trump touted on the time as a “monumental nationwide achievement.” This was made potential by a federal effort often called Operation Warp Pace that diminished paperwork and invested in medical trials and manufacturing, in keeping with a 2021 report by the Authorities Accountability Workplace — not as a consequence of any shortcuts in testing. The technological spine of the vaccines, often called mRNA, has been in growth for many years by scientists who received the 2023 Nobel Prize in medication.

Moore mentioned that the vaccines “failed in each animal check.” “All of the animals died, and now hastily, we’re going to make use of the human inhabitants as our guinea pigs,” he mentioned. The Meals and Drug Administration has beforehand advised reporters that such claims, extensively promoted amongst vaccine skeptics in the course of the pandemic, are false.

The plastic surgeon mentioned that he believes all vaccines are “poison” and that they haven’t been adequately examined — a view he says he has held for greater than 20 years.

Vaccines authorized by the FDA and beneficial by the CDC have been confirmed to guard public well being by stopping illness, critical sickness or demise. Main well being authorities just like the World Well being Group have affirmed the security and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, which researchers estimate prevented greater than 14 million deaths worldwide of their first 12 months.

Previous to signing up for the CDC’s vaccine distribution program, Moore didn’t present vaccines in his enterprise, the Plastic Surgical procedure Institute of Utah. The “bread and butter” of his apply, he mentioned, is a technique of “fast restoration” breast augmentations that he says he developed, which permits sufferers to return to their routines with little downtime.

“They have been in search of anyone and everyone to get these bioweapons out,” he mentioned about becoming a member of the federal government program, which was open to all well being care suppliers who agreed to adjust to the CDC processes, equivalent to storing the vaccines at a sure temperature and recording who had been vaccinated. “And so, it was a reasonably easy course of.”

In December 2021, a husband-and-wife couple who Moore had met by means of a mutual acquaintance got here to his house for dinner, in keeping with a prosecution trial temporary. “Whereas they have been there, Dr. Moore personally handed them each pre-completed CDC COVID-19 vaccination document playing cards with their names and delivery dates on them, falsely purporting to point out that the couple had obtained COVID-19 vaccines from the Plastic Surgical procedure Institute,” the temporary mentioned. “Dr. Moore did so realizing that neither of them had been vaccinated for COVID-19, and with out administering a COVID-19 vaccine to both of them.”

Inside weeks, prosecutors mentioned, Moore had began handing out faux vaccine playing cards in his medical workplace to anybody who was referred to his enterprise by individuals who had already obtained a falsified card.

As phrase unfold, Moore’s workers advised sufferers who wished a card might donate $50 through Venmo to an area well being freedom advocacy group known as the Well being Independence Alliance, in keeping with Moore. The husband of the couple to whom Moore first gave the faux vaccine playing cards testified on the Utah Legislature in January on behalf of the Well being Independence Alliance on a vaccine-related invoice. Moore says that he helps the group however doesn’t run it; the Well being Independence Alliance declined to remark in response to a request despatched to the e-mail listed on its web site. The couple, who weren’t charged, declined to remark.

When sending their donation, sufferers have been advised to incorporate an emoji of an orange within the Venmo topic line, in keeping with federal prosecutors, and so they have been additionally instructed to carry an orange with them to the ready room of the clinic. “At one level, there was a big basket filled with oranges” at Moore’s clinic, prosecutors mentioned of their trial temporary.

Moore confirmed this method in his interview with The Tribune and ProPublica, saying the piece of fruit was a quiet sign to his busy workers that the affected person was there for a falsified vaccine card.

He mentioned throughout this time he maintained his cosmetic surgery apply whereas distributing faux vaccine playing cards and treating COVID-19 sufferers with ivermectin and different strategies. Ivermectin has not been licensed by the FDA or beneficial by the CDC to deal with COVID-19.

An undercover state licensor known as Moore’s workplace in March 2022 and requested to make a vaccine appointment in the course of the felony investigation after somebody complained to the state well being division, in keeping with the prosecutors. At his clinic, the licensor, posing as a affected person, obtained a vaccine card testifying to her vaccination with out ever being supplied a shot, prosecutors mentioned.

Federal prosecutors alleged of their trial temporary {that a} portion of the donations for the advocacy group paid a part-time employee on the cosmetic surgery clinic $18 an hour to present out falsified vaccine playing cards and administer saline pictures to youngsters. The employee, who couldn’t be reached for remark, testified in opposition to Moore as a part of an settlement with prosecutors to dismiss her costs after the trial, in keeping with prosecutors’ trial temporary.

Moore mentioned throughout an interview that he didn’t make any cash himself and by no means immediately charged sufferers for these playing cards. He added that each grownup affected person who received a faux card had wished one.

“No person in my apply was ever tricked. No person got here to me anticipating a vaccine and didn’t get it,” he mentioned. “Everyone received what they wished.”

However some youngsters who obtained saline pictures at their dad and mom’ request falsely believed they have been being vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19, in keeping with court docket filings and Moore. This was a breach of medical ethics as a result of medical doctors have an obligation to construct belief between their group and the well being care system, mentioned Wendy Parmet, director of Northeastern College’s Middle for Well being Coverage and Regulation.

Moore mentioned he gave youngsters the saline pictures so that they wouldn’t be bullied if their friends discovered they received a vaccine card with out getting a shot. “I did have some dad and mom that didn’t need their child to know that they have been getting one thing faux,” he mentioned.

He didn’t query the dad and mom’ deception, Moore mentioned, as a result of he didn’t wish to “intervene of their household dynamic.”

“You must arise for what you’re feeling is true,” he mentioned. “That’s the rationale why I did what I did. I had no intention of defrauding the federal authorities.”

Emboldening a Motion

On the primary day of Moore’s trial in July, about 60 supporters — together with state lawmakers like Home Speaker Mike Schultz — gathered on the steps exterior the federal courthouse in Salt Lake Metropolis. They waved American flags and held indicators protesting Moore’s costs at a busy intersection. The physician tearfully thanked the gang earlier than strolling into the courthouse the place a jury would quickly be chosen.

The rally elevated public and social media consideration on Moore’s case, ultimately reaching Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. She despatched a letter to Bondi, urging the U.S. legal professional normal to drop Moore’s costs.

“Dr. Michael Kirk Moore deserves to be celebrated, not prosecuted, for his bravery in standing as much as a system that prioritized management over public well being,” Greene wrote in her July 12 letter. Her workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark. (Greene, an early supporter of Trump’s, not too long ago introduced her resignation from Congress after falling out of the president’s favor.)

That very same day, Bondi ordered the costs be dropped and thanked Greene and Utah Sen. Mike Lee in posts on X for bringing the case to her consideration. Lee’s workplace didn’t reply to questions on his position within the dismissal of Moore’s case.

Utah prosecutors then dismissed the costs in opposition to Moore, his enterprise and a neighbor who prosecutors alleged had organized the donations to the well being freedom advocacy group. Prosecutors additionally dropped costs in opposition to his workplace supervisor — who had pleaded responsible — and the part-time employee. Each of those workers testified in opposition to Moore and his neighbor the day earlier than Bondi’s announcement. Neither the neighbor nor the workplace supervisor responded to requests for remark.

Lower than per week after his costs have been dropped, Moore and his fiancée flew to Washington, D.C., at Bondi’s invitation to satisfy together with her and Greene; Moore mentioned he requested if Lee might be part of them. Moore mentioned the America First Coverage Institute, a conservative assume tank based by former Trump administration officers, paid for his journey. (The group didn’t reply to a request for remark.)

Moore described the assembly as low-key and real: “It was a handshake and a hug to each M.T.G. and Legal professional Basic Bondi.”

Moore estimates that he misplaced about two-thirds of his cosmetic surgery enterprise after his 2023 indictment as a result of he had used his advertising and marketing price range to cowl his authorized bills. As he’s tried rebuilding his apply in current months, he rebranded as Freedom Surgical & Aesthetics. He mentioned he began interested by a brand new identify in the course of the 22 days he spent in jail in November 2024 after a decide decided he had violated pretrial guidelines by speaking with different co-defendants.

The brand new identify “stands for freedom and for folks’s skill to decide on,” he mentioned. Pictures of the American flag and bald eagles seem on his clinic’s new web site amongst images of svelte girls.

Moore’s medical license is in good standing. A state licensing division spokesperson wouldn’t say whether or not the company is contemplating taking motion in opposition to his license.

The shortage of penalties for medical staff who falsify data might encourage others to undermine public well being steering, mentioned Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine skilled on the College of Pennsylvania and Youngsters’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Offit, who served on the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel from 1998 to 2003 and has clashed with Kennedy over vaccine coverage, was kicked off a vaccine advisory committee for the FDA in August.

“The primary two years of the pandemic turbocharged the medical freedom motion, which is a euphemism for principally saying that I don’t want consultants. I’ll do my very own Google searches and determine what’s proper and what’s not,” Offit mentioned. “Even when it goes in opposition to what’s customary medical apply or medical knowledge, I’m going to determine for myself — and my neighbor be damned, within the case of vaccines.”

As Moore vows to “do all the pieces I can to get COVID pictures off the market,” others who confronted comparable authorized battles say his flip of fortune has impressed them to struggle their convictions.

Julie DeVuono, a former nurse in Lengthy Island who additionally distributed faux vaccine playing cards to her sufferers, mentioned she and two others created the CovictedPatriot X account after others who gave out faux playing cards reached out to her in response to her social media publish celebrating Moore’s vindication.

New York state prosecutors had charged DeVuono with forgery and cash laundering for utilizing the proceeds from the faux vaccine playing cards to pay her mortgage. She pleaded responsible in 2023 and was sentenced to group service and probation. Her house was additionally seized as a part of a $1.2 million forfeiture, and he or she misplaced her nursing license.

“Is there any likelihood for us to get some type of restored justice?” she mentioned in an interview.

DeVuono, 53, mentioned she feels she and others who have been convicted of comparable crimes have been handled unfairly, however she will’t ask for a presidential pardon as a result of her costs have been filed in state court docket. As an alternative, she’s advocating on behalf of others who can beseech Trump, equivalent to Kathleen Breault, a not too long ago retired midwife and nurse in New York.

Breault confronted a potential five-year jail sentence after she and a co-defendant have been indicted in federal court docket in 2023 for destroying 1000’s of vaccines and issuing falsified vaccine playing cards.

“I used to be terrified,” Breault, 68, advised The Tribune and ProPublica. “However I additionally felt defiant, as a result of I felt like what I did was proper.”

She mentioned if she had gone to trial, her protection would have been civil disobedience. However Breault has well being points and cares for her grandchildren. She mentioned her youngsters urged her to do no matter she wanted to to be able to keep away from a jail sentence.

So she pleaded responsible to conspiring to defraud the USA — a felony — and was sentenced final December to a few years probation. (Her co-defendant, who died in March, had additionally pleaded responsible.)

Breault mentioned she was buoyed by information over the summer season that comparable costs in opposition to Moore have been dropped on the behest of the Trump administration. The result of Moore’s case has motivated her to start the method of asking for a presidential pardon.

A White Home spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark about whether or not Trump has obtained any pardon requests from well being care staff indicted in reference to the pandemic or if he would pardon them. He has not pardoned anybody in that state of affairs, in keeping with a evaluation of the clemency grants in his second time period listed on the Division of Justice’s web site.

Breault mentioned she’d wish to have her conviction erased so she’s not restricted by her felon standing. She’d wish to personal a gun once more, however these with felony convictions are prohibited from possessing firearms in New York. She’d additionally like extra freedom, together with not having to report back to her probation officer when she travels or how a lot is in her checking account.

“After seeing what occurred with Kirk,” she mentioned about Moore, “possibly if I didn’t take the plea, I wouldn’t have a felony conviction now.”