New Jersey Man Sentenced for Selling Fraudulent Covid-Fighting Product
A New Jersey businessman was sentenced for peddling pesticides that he falsely claimed were Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved for fighting coronavirus. Prosecutors say 63-year-old Paul Andrecola made a profit of more than $2.7 million selling the products during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is the “largest pandemic fraud case related to the sale of unregistered pesticides charged nationwide,” according to Special Agent in Charge Tyler Amon of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in New Jersey.
Andrecola of Maple Shade, New Jersey, was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Andrecola previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of presenting false claims to the United States and one count of “knowingly distributing or selling an unregistered pesticide in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).”
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger of the District of New Jersey said, “Paul Andrecola’s scheme profited on the fears of the American people during the height of concerns about transmission of COVID-19.”
Andrecola controlled two companies and was employed by a third that manufactured various disinfectant products under the brand name “GCLEAN.” The products were unregistered under FIFRA and were not on EPA’s List N, which is the approved list of Covid disinfectants.
Prosecutors say Andrecola put another company’s EPA registration numbers on his products and then falsely marketed them as EPA-approved to kill coronavirus. He created false documents to support the claims.
From March 2020 through May 2021, Andrecola made more than 150 sales of the unregistered pesticides, pocketing a profit of more than $2.7 million. Buyers included government agencies like the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the National Forest Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Also buying the products: a Delaware police department, a Virginia fire department and a Wisconsin school district.
“The defendant committed a brazen fraud in the midst of a global pandemic and sought to profit from people’s fears of contracting the coronavirus,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “This sentence shows that these crimes are serious and will be vigorously prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”
In addition to the five years in prison, Andrecola was sentenced to three years of supervised release. He must also forfeit the $2.74 million in profits from the sale of the illegal product and make full restitution for all losses incurred by the charged crimes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office District of New Jersey was assisted by the U.S. EPA Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. EPA Office of the Inspector General Eastern Region, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark Field Office, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Northeast Field Office, and the Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Police Department.