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N95 Mask Price Gouging Results in SDNY Defense Production Act Indictment of Schirripa

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - The Source

SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 26 –    The Coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity for a variety of fraudsters, from price gougers to some defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program through lenders, to sometimes the lenders themselves, an issue Inner City Press has been inquiring into and reporting on.

On May 26 the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the arrest of Richard Schirripa, a/k/a “the Mask Man,” a licensed pharmacist, on charges of violating the Defense Production Act by hoarding and price gouging scarce N95 masks; making two false statements to law enforcement; committing healthcare fraud; and committing aggravated identity theft.              

 U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As alleged, Richard Schirripa exploited an unprecedented crisis to engage in profiteering.  He allegedly spent over $200,000 accumulating N95 masks and then sold masks at inflated prices, charging customers up to 50% more than he had paid to acquire those N95 masks.  As alleged, during a sale to an undercover officer, Schirripa said, ‘I feel like a drug dealer.’  He also allegedly committed several additional, unrelated crimes, including lying to law enforcement, defrauding Medicare and Medicaid, and exploiting the personal information of his pharmacy’s customers to fill prescriptions.”

Berman's office also said that Schirripa surrendered today and will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang in Manhattan federal court - but no time, much less place, was given. Inner City Press will stay on this. The case is US v. Schirripa, 20-mj-5275 (Wang).

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