Adam David Lynd, the Lynd Co.’s president, sued for $90m fraud over coronavirus disinfectant

San Antonio-area real estate firm the Lynd Co. is facing a $90 million fraud lawsuit filed by a Florida company over efforts to sell a purported coronavirus disinfectant in Argentina.

Miami-based AHBP alleges that it couldn’t get the Argentina government’s approval for the disinfectant because they were provided with “doctored laboratory reports that grossly and fraudulently exaggerated” the product’s efficacy.

AHBP also has sued Bio Supplies, described in the complaint as the Shavano Park-based Lynd Co.’s cleaning supply business. Also named as a defendant is ViaClean Technologies, a Philadelphia company that has manufactured the disinfectant.

“At the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, AHBP sought to provide a product manufactured by ViaClean to the Argentinian public, which Bio Supplies and its affiliate The Lynd Company represented would kill the virus that causes COVID-19,” lawyers for AHBP said in an email Monday.

“As alleged in the complaint, not only were these representations false, the defendants doubled down on their duplicity by forwarding fabricated laboratory reports to AHBP and the Argentinian government falsely showing the product to be effective,” the attorneys added.

Adam David Lynd, the Lynd Co.’s president, didn’t immediately respond to messages. The suit was filed Thursday in San Antonio federal court. The defendants have yet to file answers to the complaint.

The Lynd Co. manages 16,000 apartment units in 81 communities, according to its LinkedIn page. It also specializes in development and construction services.

AHBP says the defendants’ deception cost it $89.6 million in profits and $826,300 in expenses.

AHBP is managed by New York real estate investor Alex Sapir.

According to the suit, as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged Argentina in the summer of 2020, AHBP began negotiating with Bio Supplies to sell BioProtect 500. Bio Supplies, described as an alter ego of the Lynd Co., asserted the product would destroy the virus that causes COVID-19.

During negotiations, AHBP said it needed to know the product’s composition, manufacturing and quality controls, toxicology and purported two-year shelf life to obtain approval from Argentina’s National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices.

Bio Supplies replied that it could not initially provide the information because of confidentiality concerns. It assured AHBP that the product would meet “the applicable standards.”

But Bio Supplies knew it could not perform as claimed and would not meet the Argentina government’s standards to allow it to be sold in the country, the suit adds.

Even though AHBP couldn’t verify Bio Supplies’ representations, it entered into an exclusivity and resale agreement in October 2020. Within 45 days, AHBP was required to buy $100,000 worth of product and spend $350,000 promoting it in Argentina.

In December 2020, the suit says, Bio Supplies provided the lab reports. One of the reports, from a Canadian lab, prompted questions from the Argentina agency.

AHBP contacted the lab, which advised that the report sent to AHBP and the Argentina agency was “not the same as what we had originally issued,” the complaint says.

Bio Supplies initially denied altering the report, but on March 5 of last year, admitted that it and ViaClean had provided the Argentina agency with a version of the report that had been “modified from the original,” the lawsuit says. A call to ViaClean was not immediately returned.

The defendants’ “fraudulent representations became crystal clear” later that month when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered ViaClean to stop marketing the product with claims that is effective against the coronavirus, the suit adds.

The EPA’s order related to the product BioProtect RTU. BioProtect 500 is a concentrated form of BioProtect RTU, according to the website of a company that sells both products.

AHBP says that as a result of defendants’ “fraudulent scheme, breaches and other misconduct,” it was unable to sell BioProtect 500 in Argentina — the only place in the world where it had a license to sell the product.