St. Louis Radio: Radio Host Facing Trial For COVID Misinformation

A St. Louis-area chiropractor, radio host and vitamin guru who in April 2021 was the first person in the country to be sued by the federal government under the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act has suffered a series of setbacks in court.

The River Front Times reports Eric Nepute is accused of millions of violations of the law, which regulates how products can be advertised in relation to COVID-19. The Federal Trade Commission says that the 93.3 FM Real Talk Radio host, who goes by "the rock doc," peddled false information about the pandemic in service of selling his own supplements and vitamins — chiefly Vitamin D and zinc. His trial is set to begin August 21 in federal court.

The FTC accused Nepute of claiming on his radio show that vitamins "are more effective than the available COVID-19 vaccines" and then directing listeners to a website where he sold his Wellness Warrior brand of Vitamin D and zinc.

U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie L. White issued a ruling on Wednesday saying that though Nepute had hoped to testify as an expert at the trial about the validity of his own statements, that won’t be happening.

“Nepute does not practice medicine,” Judge White wrote. “There is no evidence in the record that he has any experience treating infectious diseases, and more specifically, COVID-19.”

The judge barred Nepute from testifying only as an expert, not from testifying all together.

Judge White also shot down two other experts who Nepute's defense had hoped would take the stand, finding that both lacked the necessary qualifications to provide expert testimony in the areas that Nepute's attorneys hoped to ask them about.