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Amardeep Singh, of Woodbury, 45, was arrested after police and postal inspectors found and seized 23 pallets containing more than 100,000 face masks,10,000 surgical gowns, nearly 2,500 full-body isolation suits and more than 500,000 pairs of disposable gloves at his retail store in Plainview and a warehouse in Brentwood on April 14.
Singh became the first person in the nation charged under the Defense Production Act on April 24; afterward, an additional 40 shipments of disposable face masks weighing more than 1.6 tons, 14 shipments of disposable surgical gowns weighing more than 2.2 tons, six shipments of hand sanitizer weighing more than 1.8 tons and seven shipments of digital thermometers weighing approximately 253 pounds were found in his possession.
“The defendant has accepted responsibility for taking advantage of a public health emergency for personal profit,” stated Acting United States Seth D. Attorney DuCharme, who heads the Department of Justice’s nationwide COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force. “Today’s deferred prosecution agreement is a victory for heroic healthcare workers and first-responders who will benefit from the personal protective equipment relinquished by the defendant in their continuing battle against the COVID-19 virus.”
On March 18, 2020, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13909 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, invoking the pre-existing Defense Production Act of 1950 to make it illegal to acquire medical supplies and devices designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as scarce in order to hoard them or sell them for excessive prices.
“The defendant has accepted responsibility for taking advantage of a public health emergency for personal profit,” stated Acting United States Seth D. Attorney DuCharme, who heads the Department of Justice’s nationwide COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force. “Today’s deferred prosecution agreement is a victory for heroic healthcare workers and first-responders who will benefit from the personal protective equipment relinquished by the defendant in their continuing battle against the COVID-19 virus.”
COVID-19 fraud, hoarding or price-gouging can be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud’s National Hotline at (866) 720-5721, or e-mail: disaster@leo.gov.
“Mr. Singh took advantage of being the ‘only game in town’ with PPE during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, by jacking up the prices on life-saving equipment needed by first responders, medical personnel and the general public. Singh held himself out as a local hero but we now know this was totally untrue,” stated USPIS Inspector-in-Charge Bartlett.
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