CEO of Scalpa, Inc. Indicted on Mail, Wire Fraud Charges

ABINGDON, Va. – A federal grand jury sitting in the U.S. District Court in Abingdon, returned an indictment in July 2024 charging Bryce Cleveland, the President and CEO of Scalpa, Inc., with mail fraud, wire fraud, and other charges related to Scalpa’s selling of skincare products that had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Cleveland, 42, of Scottsdale, Arizona, made his initial court appearance in the Western District of Virginia yesterday following his arrest last month. Cleveland was apprehended in Colombia and arrested in Florida on an outstanding federal warrant by the United States Marshals Service. 

According to the indictment, Scalpa was a for-profit corporation incorporated in Arizona in 2015 that marketed and sold medical devices and drug products intended to affect the structure and function of the human body. These products included the Fibroblast Pen, Hyaluron Pen, Hyaluronic Acid, and Scalpatox.

The indictment alleges that between 2018 and December 2020, Cleveland devised a scheme to unlawfully enrich himself by marketing, and causing others to market, unapproved devices, including but not limited to the Fibroblast Pen and Hyaluron Pen, to consumers while representing that the unapproved devices were not regulated. In addition, the indictment alleges Cleveland concealed and omitted, and caused others to conceal and omit, the fact that the Fibroblast Pen and Hyaluron Pen were, in fact, regulated products. The indictment further alleges that Cleveland introduced into commerce an unapproved new drug, Scalpatox.

Cleveland is charged with 12 counts of mail fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of introduction of adulterated devices into interstate commerce, and one count of introduction of an unapproved new drug into interstate commerce, totaling 34 counts.

Robert N. Tracci, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Ronald Dawkins with U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and United States Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division - Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood made the announcement.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration—Office of Criminal Investigations is investigating the case, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Corey Hall and Randy Ramseyer and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Justus Hogge are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.