August 27, 2025
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
ViaClean Technologies and its founder are facings federal charges for allegedly falsely claiming that two of its products could kill the coronavirus on surfaces during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Above, the federal courthouse in Philadelphia.
A Philadelphia biotech company and its founder are facing federal charges for allegedly falsely marketing two pesticides designed to combat mold, mildew and algae as being capable of killing the virus that causes COVID-19.
During the early months of the pandemic, a disinfectant sold by ViaClean Technologies was included on a list of products that the Environmental Protection Agency had determined likely were effective against the coronavirus. That product, SmartTouch, had been tested against COVID-19 in an overseas lab, prosecutors said.
But ViaClean allegedly misled consumers into believing two other products, marketed with SmartTouch as a "system" for long-term protection against COVID-19, also had been tested, and that they would be effective for up to 90 days without reapplication. These products — BioProtect 7000 and and BioProtect AM500 — did not include disinfectants, and were designed to prevent bacteria that causes staining, odor, fungi and algae. But ViaClean marketed them from January 2020 to October 2020 as being capable of killing COVID-19 and other viruses, prosecutors allege.
ViaClean and its founder James Young, 46, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, are accused of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, and violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, known as FIRFA. The company's director of business development — Sean Storrie, 59, of Philadelphia — also has been charged with violating FIRFA.
Prosecutors allege claims made by ViaClean illegally differed from the products' EPA-approved labels. All antimicrobial pesticides — products intended to disinfect, sanitize and protect surfaces against bacteria, viruses and fungi — must be proven effective through scientific testing before being registered with the EPA and sold. For ViaClean to claim that its products killed the coronavirus, it needed to submit performance data.
In March 2021, the EPA ordered ViaClean to stop marketing the products as effective at killing COVID-19, stating that they only were registered as effective against non-public health microorganisms. At the time, the EPA said the company provided two fact sheets to at least one customer about the products, including a statement that one of the pesticides could kill "germs."
