Life Extension Foundation

The Life Extension Foundation (LEF) is a company that sells supplements and vitamins. Its claimed goals are to extend the healthy human lifespan by discovering methods to control aging and eradicate disease. It is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It also has a call center location in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Activities

In the late 1990s, LEF sold "antiaging nostrums like DHEA and melatonin," whose "antiaging benefits" mainstream researchers asserted were "dubious or nonexistent".[1]

More recently, it has been involved in providing $5 million in funding to the Stasis Foundation,[2] an organization which aims to build a "Timeship" which would aid in the "cryopreservation of patients, organs, the DNA of humans and endangered species," but had been threatened with the loss of nonprofit status due to the lack of construction up to the year 2011.[3] In 2016, the Stasis Foundation claimed to have begun work on the Timeship.[4]

The Life Extension Foundation also donated $3.5 million to 21st Century Medicine, a for-profit company that specializes in living systems preservation technology[2] that was founded by Saul Kent.[1]

History

It was founded by Saul Kent and William Faloon in 1980.[1][5]

In 1987, the FDA raided the Life Extension Foundation's warehouse, and charged Kent and Faloon with 27 counts, including that of distributing unapproved drugs, in later dropped charges. In response Kent and Faloon opened the FDA Holocaust Museum, a one-room museum that contains "books and articles about life extension" and comparisons between the FDA and the Nazis.[6]

In May 2013, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the Life Extension Foundations tax-exempt status, retroactive to 2006.[7] Forbes reported that "The IRS’ problem with the Foundation is [...] an entirely worldly one: it asserts the membership organization’s operations seem to be too entwined with the for-profit Life Extension Buyers Club."[2] LEF filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment on August 7, 2013, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the IRS' allegations.[8] In 2018 the exemption was reinstated retroactive to the date it was revoked (May 2013).[9][10] (Employer Identification Number 591746396)

Its most recent tax filing at the time stated that it had assets of over $25 million and netted more than $3 million on revenue of more than $18 million that year.[2]

On February 8, 2018 the name of the Life Extension Foundation, Inc was changed to Biomedical Research and Longevity Society, Inc.[11]

See also

References
  1. Heard, Alex (1997-09-28). "Technology makes us optimistic; They want to live". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
  2. Reilly, Peter J. "IRS Kills Tax Exemption Of Foundation Pushing Eternal Life". Forbes. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  3. Danner, Patrick (June 17, 2011). "Conquering death in Comfort?". My San Antonio. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  4. Danner, Patrick (July 2, 2016). "Report: Work begins on cryonics castle in Comfort". San Antonio Express News. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  5. Rose, Steve (2004-01-23). "Stephen Valentine talks about the battle to conquer death". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
  6. Almond, Steven (June 8, 1994). "They're Gonna Live Forever". Miami New Times. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  7. "Report of Examination" (PDF). Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  8. Case 1:13-cv-01219, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
  9. "Life Extension Foundation Inc". Tax Exempt Organizations. Internal Revenue Service. July 6, 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  10. "Life Extension Foundation Inc". Tax Exempt Organizations. Internal Revenue Service. July 6, 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  11. "Articles of Amendment to Articles of Incorporation of Life Extension Foundation Inc". CT Corporation. February 8, 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
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