| For COVID Price Gouging on
Instagram EDNY Files Complaint Against Bobby
Singh
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 24 – Amid
the Coronavirus pandemic, the
US Attorney for the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern
District of New York has filed
a complaint against Bobby
Singh for hoarding for face
masks, surgical gowns, hand
sanitizer, PPE face shields
and PPE coveralls, and selling
them at inflated prices on,
among other places, Instagram.
From the April 24 complaint:
"On or about and
between March 25, 2020 and
April 14, 2020, both dates
being approximate and
inclusive, within the Eastern
District of New York and
elsewhere, the defendant
AMARDEEP SINGH, also known as
“Bobby Singh” and “Bobby
Sidana,” did knowingly
and intentionally accumulate
(i) in excess of the
reasonable demands of
business, personal, and
home consumption, and (ii) for
the purpose of resale at
prices in excess of
prevailing market prices,
materials which had been
designated by the President of
the United States as
scarce materials and materials
the supply of which would be
threatened by such
accumulation, in violation of
the Defense Production Act of
1950. between
March 25, 2020 and April 14,
2020, SINGH accumulated PPE
and other health and
medical resources—some of
which had been designated as
scarce and threatened
materials by the Secretary of
HHS—in quantities that far
exceeded the reasonable
demands of SINGH’s
retail business, which, until
that point in time, had not
dealt in such products.
16. For
example, in the approximately
two weeks between March 25,
2020 and April 8, 2020,
SINGH, by and through one or
more of the Singh Entities,
received or attempted to
receive the following
deliveries at the Retail
Premises and/or the
Warehouse Premises: (i)
40 shipments of disposable
face masks, weighing more than
1.6 tons; (ii) 14
shipments of disposable
surgical gowns, weighing more
than 2.2 tons; (iii) six
shipments of hand
sanitizer, weighing more than
1.8 tons; and (iv) seven
shipments of digital
thermometers, weighing
approximately 253
pounds.
17. These and
other items were advertised
for sale at the Retail
Premises. Specifically,
as depicted below, in addition
to the items described above,
the Retail Premises
offered for sale PPE face
shields and PPE coveralls,
i.e., full-body isolation
suits, both of which had
been designated as scarce and
threatened materials by the
Secretary of HHS During
this time period, SINGH also
marketed such items using
social media, including
two Instagram accounts with
the handles @nytentsale and
@wlcmart (the “Singh IG
Accounts”). On April 7, 2020,
the Singh IG Accounts
published the following
image of SINGH wearing a PPE
face shield, with a disposable
face mask around his
neck, and posing behind
numerous bottles of hand
sanitizer and stacked
canisters of
disinfectant wipes; a
public comment by the
@nytentsale account read,
“Face Shields in stock now”
On or about
Ap1il 3, 2020, SINGH completed
a sale of, among other
items, I 00 KN-95 respirator
face masks at a per-unit cost
of $4.99 (185% above
cost); 4,000 three-ply
disposable face masks at a
per-unit price of $1.00
(1,328% above cost); ten
boxes of disposable gloves at
a price of$7.99 per-box (100%
to 219% above cost); a
32-ounce bottle of "Perfect
Purity'' brand hand sanitizer
for $24.99 ( 194% above
cost); and four fashion masks
at a per-w1it price of
$18 (125% above cost) to
Rewarding Environments for
Adult Living, Inc.
WHEREFORE, your deponent
respectfully requests that the
defendant AMARDEEP
SINGH, also known as "Bobby
Singh" and "Bobby Sidana," be
dealt with according to
law.
The case is US v.
Singh, 20-mj-326 (EDNY). Inner
City Press aims to continue to
cover it, as it has other EDNY
cases, like here.
***
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