A Georgia businessman has been charged with hoarding 200,000 face masks that he bought from a foreign country and selling them for twice as much as he paid on his baby clothing website, according to the Department of Justice.
The man, Milton Ayimadu, 22, allegedly bought the masks from an unnamed foreign country for $2.50 each. He sold the masks for $5.00 each through his website, babypuupu.com, which also sells baby clothing and accessories, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia.
“Ayimadu allegedly saw the unprecedented Covid-19 global pandemic as an opportunity to make a profit,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak said in the release. “Desperate to find personal protective equipment during the pandemic, thousands of customers unfortunately paid his inflated prices.”
Mr. Ayimadu, of Stockbridge, Ga., was arraigned on Thursday and charged with two violations of the Defense Production Act of 1950, a Korean War-era law intended to prevent hoarding and price gouging, among other things. The charging documents were not available from the U.S. attorney’s office on Friday evening.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Mr. Ayimadu “priced his masks in excess of prevailing market prices to maximize his profits to the detriment of consumers desperate for personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic” while other manufacturers continued selling masks for under $2.00 per mask.
Mr. Ayimadu did not immediately respond to requests sent to babypuupu.com for an interview on Friday evening. It was unclear whether he has a lawyer.
In March, President Trump invoked the powers of the Defense Production Act, a law that includes the authority to compel companies to manufacture items and also makes it illegal to sell materials that are designated as scarce for more than their market value. Medical items, including face masks, have been considered scarce since late March.
Since the law was invoked in March, 11 cases have been brought under the act, according to a spokesman for Craig Carpenito, the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, who heads the Covid-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force.
Attorney General William P. Barr created the task force to investigate and prosecute cases of hoarding and price gouging medical supplies during the pandemic.
“Hoarding and price gouging, in particular, have inhibited front-line health care professionals, essential workers, and the public from acquiring the supplies they need to protect themselves from contracting the virus,” Mr. Carpenito said during a June hearing about coronavirus fraud.
The Coronavirus Outbreak ›
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated August 6, 2020
-
Why are bars linked to outbreaks?
- Think about a bar. Alcohol is flowing. It can be loud, but it’s definitely intimate, and you often need to lean in close to hear your friend. And strangers have way, way fewer reservations about coming up to people in a bar. That’s sort of the point of a bar. Feeling good and close to strangers. It’s no surprise, then, that bars have been linked to outbreaks in several states. Louisiana health officials have tied at least 100 coronavirus cases to bars in the Tigerland nightlife district in Baton Rouge. Minnesota has traced 328 recent cases to bars across the state. In Idaho, health officials shut down bars in Ada County after reporting clusters of infections among young adults who had visited several bars in downtown Boise. Governors in California, Texas and Arizona, where coronavirus cases are soaring, have ordered hundreds of newly reopened bars to shut down. Less than two weeks after Colorado’s bars reopened at limited capacity, Gov. Jared Polis ordered them to close.
-
I have antibodies. Am I now immune?
- As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.
-
I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?
- The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.
-
What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?
- Employers have to provide a safe workplace with policies that protect everyone equally. And if one of your co-workers tests positive for the coronavirus, the C.D.C. has said that employers should tell their employees -- without giving you the sick employee’s name -- that they may have been exposed to the virus.
-
What is school going to look like in September?
- It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community.
“Hospitals, first responders, and retail consumers have been targeted by individuals who view the scarcity of critical medical materials as a path to get rich quick,” he continued. “This conduct has disrupted our supply chains and markets, and jeopardized the safety of our communities.”
Federal and state authorities have also targeted hoarding and price gouging, in addition to the cases brought under the Defense Production Act.
In March, the authorities seized nearly a million medical-grade masks and gloves from a man in Brooklyn, who was charged with lying to federal agents about price gouging. Later, two men were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud after they allegedly attempted to sell empty boxes labeled as if they had masks for $4 million. And two Tennessee brothers, who were criticized after they bought 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer and resold some on Amazon, donated their stockpile to avoid paying a fine.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were involved in the investigation into Mr. Ayimadu.
"with" - Google News
August 08, 2020 at 08:35AM
https://ift.tt/3fEY62s
Georgia Businessman Charged With Hoarding Face Masks and Price Gouging - The New York Times
"with" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d5QSDO
https://ift.tt/2ycZSIP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Georgia Businessman Charged With Hoarding Face Masks and Price Gouging - The New York Times"
Post a Comment