DOJ Partners with HHS to Distribute Medical Supplies Confiscated from Price Gougers
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), as part of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force, has recovered a significant number of N95 respirator masks from price gougers looking to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the DOJ and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are working together to redistribute the items to medical centers in need.
The Defense Production Act (DPA) and a presidential executive order triggering the act’s current use prevent the accumulation of medical supplies critical to the COVID-19 response in excess of reasonable demands of business, personal, or home consumption, or for the purpose of resale at prices in excess of prevailing market prices, according to the DOJ release.
The FBI discovered the supplies during an enforcement operation on March 30 and alerted HHS, which used its authority under the DPA to order that the supplies be immediately redistributed for use in the US. The FBI found roughly 192,000 N95 masks, 598,000 medical grade gloves and 130,000 surgical masks, procedure masks, N100 masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant towels, particulate filters, bottles of hand sanitizer, and bottles of spray disinfectant.
HHS will pay the owner of the hoarded equipment pre-COVID-19 fair market value for the supplies and has begun distributing to meet the critical need for the supplies among healthcare workers in New York and New Jersey. Specifically, after inspecting the supplies, HHS arranged for the delivery of the equipment to the New Jersey Department of Health, the New York State Department of Health and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"This is the first of many such investigations that are underway," said Peter Navarro, DPA Policy Coordinator and Assistant to the President. "Our FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies are tracking down every tip and lead they get, and are devoting massive federal resources to this effort. All individuals and companies hoarding any of these critical supplies, or selling them at well above market prices, are hereby warned they should turn them over to local authorities or the federal government now or risk prompt seizure by the federal government."
"If you are amassing critical medical equipment for the purpose of selling it at exorbitant prices, you can expect a knock at your door," said Attorney General William P. Barr.