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TSC Agency LLC -- a logistics and freight forwarding company located off southbound Route 17 near the State Line Diner -- will also remain on probation for a year under the terms of a plea deal with the government, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Tuesday, April 26.
TSC and two partners bought 250,000 of the filtering facepiece respirators at $1.09 apiece mask from a foreign manufacturer in mid-March 2020, Sellinger said.
TSC then sold 100,000 of the masks to the unidentified chain for $5.25 each, violating federal price-gouging laws, he said.
TSC “had no history of selling personal protective equipment” prior to the onset of COVID, Sellinger noted.
The grocery chain, in turn, sold the masks to customers for less than it paid, while distributing some free to employees, the U.S. attorney said.
Rather than face trial, the company took a deal from the government, pleading guilty last December via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Newark to violating the Defense Production Act, which prohibits the hoarding of materials for resale at higher than prevailing market prices.
Sellinger credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations in New York with the investigation leading to the plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney David V. Simunovich of her Government Fraud Unit and Nicholas P. Grippo, chief of her Criminal Division, both in Newark.
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