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Press Release

President Of Hair Testing Company Sentenced To 41 Months In Prison For Defrauding Over 88,000 Customers In Allergy Testing Scam

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that KYLE TSUI was sentenced today to 41 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas for conducting a fraud scheme that resulted in sales of approximately $5.9 million worth of fabricated allergy and sensitivity tests to tens of thousands of customers.  TSUI previously pled guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy, following his extradition from Spain in November 2023.  As part of his guilty plea, TSUI was ordered to forfeit the fraudulent proceeds he received from the scheme—more than $4.1 million—which TSUI paid in full in advance of sentencing and which may now be used to compensate victims of the scheme.   

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Kyle Tsui defrauded tens of thousands of innocent victims, whose health was put at risk with false allergy and sensitivity testing results.  Tsui’s company advertised ‘highly-rated’ allergy and sensitivity testing services but didn’t even attempt to test the samples his paying customers sent in, instead directing others to throw the samples in the garbage.  Today’s sentence—and the recovery of all the money Tsui stole from victims of the scheme—sends a message that brazen schemes like Tsui’s do not pay.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, court filings, and statements made in court, including during TSUI’s plea proceeding and sentencing:

From September 2018 through April 2019, TSUI orchestrated a scheme to defraud customers of his company, the “Allergy Testing Company,” by purporting to sell food and environmental sensitivity testing services that TSUI knew were not, in fact, being performed.  In total, TSUI sold fabricated tests worth approximately $5.9 million to more than 88,000 victims through an online marketplace. 

TSUI’s company promoted its “[h]ighly-rated, top selling sensitivity and intolerance test” that “determines how your body responds to 800 different food and environmental items” with just “a small hair sample.”  But rather than actually test the hair samples as customers were promised, TSUI directed that the hair samples be discarded in the trash without any laboratory analysis.  Customers then received fabricated test results purporting to identify certain foods and environmental factors that were “safe” for them and others that the customers were supposedly “sensitive” to and should avoid.       

If you believe you are a victim of the Allergy Testing Company fraud, updated information regarding the case and victims’ rights, as well as contact information for the victim witness coordinator, is available here.

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In addition to the prison term, TSUI, 41, of Ontario, Canada, was sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $4,165,884.70.  

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Mr. Williams also thanked the Hyde Park Police Department, the New York State Troopers, the Toronto Police Service, the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and the Government of Spain for their assistance in the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Qais Ghafary and Benjamin Levander are in charge of the prosecution, which was previously handled by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Loss.

Contact

Nicholas Biase, Shelby Wratchford
(212) 637-2600

Updated September 17, 2024

Topic
Securities, Commodities, & Investment Fraud
Press Release Number: 24-294