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Left: This April 26, 2010 file photo shows actor Keith Middlebrook at the premiere of “Iron Man 2” at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File). Right: President Joe Biden, right, presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor, to Earvin “Magic” Johnson in the East Room of the White House, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta).
An actor who has appeared in films such as “Iron Man 2” and “Moneyball” is headed to prison for promoting a fake cure for COVID during the early days of the pandemic, according to the Department of Justice.
United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer on Monday sentenced 57-year-old Keith Lawrence Middlebrook to 98 months — just over 8 years — in prison and ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. A jury in the U.S. Central District of California in May found Middlebrook guilty of 11 counts of wire fraud.
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Back in March 2020 — just as COVID-19 began enveloping the world — Middlebrook began soliciting potential investors for a patent on a purported “cure” for the disease called “QC20” and a “treatment” dubbed “QP20.” Middlebrook peddled his so-called products on YouTube and Instagram, while also claiming he reeled in A-list investors such as basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson. He said a group of people in Dubai had offered to buy his company for $10 billion. Middlebrook told potential investors that they’d receive “enormous returns.”
In a YouTube video about his “products,” he called himself the “Real Iron Man” and wrote that the pandemic was just “Designed and meant to Destroy the Greatest Economy in US History built by” then-President Donald Trump, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit.
But none of his claims were true.
There was no known cure for COVID and a vaccine to treat the disease was over a year away from approval. A business representative of Johnson’s told FBI agents the former Los Angeles Lakers star was not involved in any COVID investment. When showed a driver’s license photo of Middlebrook, Johnson claimed to have “never met, spoken to, or seen this individual,” FBI agents wrote in the affidavit. Johnson testified to these facts at trial, prosecutors said.
Middlebrook’s lawyer was peeved. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, he called Johnson “the biggest liar I’ve ever seen and we’ll prove it.”
“We’re going to go out and we’re going to prove that Magic Johnson is a liar,” Stein told the newspaper, adding he “did not know how the jury convicted” his client.
A representative for Johnson could not immediately be reached for comment.
Middlebrook remained defiant on the witness stand. Fischer determined the defendant lied while testifying on his own behalf. He continued to spout the claim that Johnson was a part of his company. Prosecutors said Fischer gave Middlebrook a harsher sentence based in part by his lies.
The FBI arrested Middlebrook in March 2020 when he delivered pills which he claimed would prevent COVID infection to an undercover agent posing as an investor.
According to his IMDb page, Middlebrook has had small roles in such films as “Iron Man 2,” “Moneyball,” “Bad Teacher” and “Thor.” He also appeared in two episodes of “The Sopranos.”
Middlebrook has also claimed he was the inspiration for the HBO show “Ballers.”
