Stockpiling Sneaker Seller Slips-up

In a first of its kind case, the office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York has brought criminal charges against a Long Island entrepreneur under the Defense Production Act.  The defendant owns several New York based businesses that sell sneakers and apparel.  After a search of defendant’s warehouse, investigators discovered 100,000 N95 masks, 10,000 surgical gowns, over 2,000 full-body isolation suits and over 500,000 pairs of disposable gloves.  According to prosecutors, the defendant is no goody-two-shoes – he later sold these items to “uniquely vulnerable” customers on shoe-string budgets such as the Association to Benefit Children and the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens.  The inflated prices he charged resulted in profits of up to 1,328%.  This is the first instance of federal prosecutors using the Defense Production Act of 1950 to target hoarding and price gouging in the current COVID-19 health crisis, but they obviously feel that the shoe fits. Defense counsel Bradley Gerstman is confident that the allegations against his client are “unconscionable and unsustainable in a court of law” and is not shaking in his shoes.