Napa-based naturopathic doctor Juli A. Mazi, the loon who was nabbed by the feds last year for prescribing bogus COVID-19 immunization pills and handing out fraudulent vaccination cards, just tried to vacate her plea agreement after firing her lawyers. But the judge wasn’t having it.
The saga only gets loonier with this case, and of course Doctor — and we use that term generously, because she has an ND degree from someplace in Portland that offers doctorates in acupuncture — Mazi is now representing herself after agreeing to a plea bargain in April and then firing her attorneys. Mazi was potentially facing up to 25 years for her scheme to profit from the pandemic via some naturopathic pellets that she prescribed and claimed would provide “homeoprophylaxis” immunization for COVID-19.
Mazi’s sentencing was scheduled for July 29, but as KPIX reports, things must have been delayed because she then had a virtual hearing on Wednesday, August 10, in which she both tried to vacate her plea and challenge the fact that there are laws governing what she can prescribe as a naturopath — ignoring the whole fraud bit and the fact that she made $200,000 spinning some batshit bullshit for gullible clients and passing out falsified vaccine cards that said “Moderna” on them with fake lot numbers.
Photo via the FBI
“There were no laws broken,” Mazi said Wednesday, reading from her motion to vacate her plea during the hearing. “Can you provide the laws that allow you to disregard the procedures that a naturopathic doctor is licensed to administer?”
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, the brother of newly retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, was not too interested in Mazi’s bullshittery.
Judge Breyer reportedly said to Mazi “it appears you are not contesting the facts” in the plea agreement, and he said, “To the extent you are making a motion to withdraw your plea, that is denied.” Breyer then added, “To the extent that you are not making a motion to plea, but challenging the laws upon which you entered your plea, or this prosecution, that is also denied.”
Mazi doesn’t seem to understand the legal system or that her most egregious crime was selling fake vaccination cards — which investigators say she had previously done, pre-COVID, to anti-vaxx parents who needed immunization cards to get their kids enrolled in California schools. The feds said she had sold at least 100 of those for kids, prior to the pandemic providing her with a whole new revenue stream.
But clearly we’re not dealing with a towering intellect here.
Federal investigators found that Mazi made over $220,000 in payments to her Square account between January 2020 and May 2021, and sold at least 200 fake vaccination cards — telling them that she was just “stepping up” to save them from the toxins in the FDA-approved vaccines. Ironically, multiple patients reported being made ill by the pellets she gave them to ingest instead.
“This doctor violated the public’s trust and reliance on health care professionals – during a time when integrity was needed most,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. in a statement when Mazi entered her plea in April. “Instead of providing sage information and guidance, Mazi profited from peddling unapproved remedies, stirring up false fears, and generating fake proof of vaccinations.”
“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 in a statement at the time. “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.”
Breyer has now rescheduled Mazi’s sentencing for November 29. In addition to likely serving prison time, Mazi could also be on the hook for fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mazi’s website remains live, over a year after her arrest, and it’s unclear if she’s still doing business in Napa. A “Donate” page on her website with a PayPal link has been disabled, with PayPal saying “this organization is currently ineligible to receive donations.”
