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Long Island resident Jonathan Cannon, age 58, of Miller Place, and Erie County resident Julie Dotton, age 51, of Orchard Park, are both charged with wire fraud in a complaint unsealed in Central Islip federal court on Thursday, May 2.
According to prosecutors, a Canadian company serving as an official provider of personal protective equipment paid Cannon and Dotton $8.2 million for surgical masks needed due to the pandemic.
In exchange, Dotton agreed to provide approximately 12 million face masks to the company, which then wired the $8.2 million payment to a purported third-party escrow agent’s bank account, prosecutors said.
Rather than use the funds to procure the masks, the couple transferred the money to a bank account controlled by Cannon, who dispersed it to various third parties for both defendants' benefit, according to investigators.
When the company demanded delivery of the masks, the couple reportedly made up excuses for not holding up their end of the deal, stringing the company along for months.
“The defendants sought to take advantage of a provider’s need for life-saving personal protective equipment through a fraudulent scheme that was designed in reality to line their own pockets,” said US Attorney Breon Peace.
“This office will continue to work diligently to ensure that fraudsters who sought to capitalize on the worldwide pandemic will be brought to justice. There is no free pass for COVID-19 fraud.”
Cannon was arrested at his Miller Place residence Thursday morning and was later released on a $500,000 bond. Dotton was apprehended in Buffalo.
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