Three years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many ways in which the American people were misled with what we now know is false information about COVID, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people were censored for their views and information they posted online.
It appears however, that other forms of retaliation are still taking place, and it comes in the form of economic retaliation. If the government cannot quell your free speech adequately enough, they will go after your livelihood, and even affect the lives of your employees. One Florida-based company is finding that out, and they are not getting many answers as to why in the process.
Mercola Market is a retail health company based in Cape Coral ,Florida. Mercola Market sells items like specialty beverages, food, supplements, and other kinds of health-related products. Dr. Joseph Mercola is the owner of Mercola Market.
Earlier in July, Mercola Market, the CEO, CFO, and even some of their family members all received letters from Chase Bank, with which Mercola Market has several personal and business accounts with saying, “[they] have decided to close” those accounts. No reason was given for the closing of the accounts.
While Dr. Mercola himself has not said so publicly, several of his employees believe that Dr Mercola’s past criticism of COVID-19 vaccines and the Food and Drug Administration in general could be behind the abrupt bank account terminations. So far, the only response from the bank to any of Mercola’s employees was in the form of a voicemail to CEO Steven Rye, which said that the reason for the closing of his and his wife’s personal account could not be made public “for legal reasons.” If a bank closes your personal account, don’t you have the right to know why? Rye is one of the Market’s employees who believes that the company is being targeted for it’s owner’s statements regarding COVID. Rye said,
I believe they cancelled all of the accounts because of Dr. Mercola’s (our employer) opinions. He has carried a contradictory view throughout the COVID narrative and co-authored the best selling book The Truth About COVID-19 which exposed the likelihood that this virus was engineered in a laboratory funded by the NIH.
Chase Bank has even informed Rye that his children would not be allowed to be customers in the future.
Amalia Legaspi is the CFO of Mercola Market. She said that the personal accounts of both her son and herself were cancelled. And what’s worse, in the case of Legaspi, she shares a joint account with her husband, who is bedridden with dementia in the Philippines, and she uses that account to deposit funds for his medical expenses. She is now forced to provide all sorts of legal documentation and affidavits from physicians that her husband is in fact incapacitated, as Chase Bank has told her she will not be allowed to open another account in his name.
Steven Rye has only received voicemails saying he must also provide documentation in order for the bank to reconsider, which said, “We are going to try because you’re a good client of our institution.” A representative from Chase sent Rye an email stating he was, “still trying to figure out what is going on.”
Dr. Mercola may be at odds with the FDA, and as a result, Chase Bank, for publishing articles on the possible benefits of treatments for COVID like Vitamin D, Zinc, and a drug called Quercetin that has anti-inflammatory effects, as well as the possible efficacy of drugs like hydroxychloroquine to combat the COVID virus. Mercola also published what might be rather controversial testimony of a nurse, who claimed that patients were being put on ventilators and killed, after it was proven that ventilators were not beneficial.
Dr. Mercola is certainly not the only person to possibly incur the wrath of the federal government due to his views on COVID. A wide net was cast for anyone not regurgitating “approved” COVID information. Stanford University Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was censored by Twitter without his knowledge because he argued that lockdowns would harm children. Democrat presidential nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr was also censored by Facebook and Instagram for what was deemed “misinformation” and posts were taken down. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently claimed that the “scientific establishment” asked him to take down posts with COVID information that was later found to be “debatable or true.”
In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation that prohibits financial institutions from denying or canceling service to anyone based on political or religious beliefs in Florida. You have to wonder, at this point, what else does the government have to hide about COVID?