Father and son accused of selling diseased body parts on the black market

CHICAGO, Illinois -- A father and son in Chicago are charged for allegedly selling diseased body parts on the black market.

Donald Greene Sr. and Donald Greene Jr. are also accused of knowingly selling the parts without telling their buyers.

The Greenes were behind the now-shuttered Biological Resource Center of Illinois, which the FBI investigated four years ago.

Back then, they had allegedly promised that the bodies would go to medical research. But the bodies were never donated.

According to a search warrant obtained by WBBM, a mother was told her son's tissues would be donated to colleges and research centers.

Instead, parts of him sold for $5,000. Bodies known to have HIV, sepsis and hepatitis were kept on ice and then sold, some for up to $100,000, the warrant said.

Now attorneys have charged the Greenes in what United States attorneys call a scheme "to defraud customers of the Biological Resource Center of Illinois."

It's not illegal to dismember and broker body parts, per se.

However, it is illegal to knowingly sell remains positive for infectious disease, like what the Greenes allegedly did from 2008 to 2014.

Greene Sr. is charged with wire fraud. His son faces a felony for intentionally concealing a crime.

Authorities said they were led to the Greenes while investigating Detroit body broker Arthur Rathburn, who is now in federal prison.