'I feel like a drug dealer standing out here,' Richard Schirripa allegedly said as he was recorded selling 16 boxes of N95 masks to a customer on the street.
A licensed pharmacist in New York bought up thousands of rare N95 masks and sold them at much higher prices during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal authorities said Tuesday, announcing the arrest of Richard Schirripa, a.k.a."the Mask Man," on charges that include violating the Defense Production Act. Schirripa is accused of charging up to $25 per mask – often selling them out of his car.
The sale took place near Madison Avenue Pharmacy, just east of Central Park – a business Schirripa had recently shut down. But rather than arriving through official channels, the masks had come from"the black market," Schirripa allegedly said. He is accused of selling most of the protective gear out of the trunk of his Audi.
"As alleged, Richard Schirripa exploited an unprecedented crisis to engage in profiteering," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman,. Several agencies, from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to the Drug Enforcement Administration, played roles in building the case against Schirripa.
His customers spanned eight states and included several doctors, a nursing home, a funeral home and a drug store, according to court documents. Authorities were able to learn details about Schirripa's sales because he kept invoices for each transaction — paperwork that apparently used the name of his recently closed pharmacy.
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