A Bergen County, New Jersey, company admitted its role in price gouging a chain of New Jersey grocery stores in connection with the sale of KN95 masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. TSC Agency LLC (TSC), a logistics and freight forwarding company based in Mahwah, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference to an information charging it with price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: In March 2020, TSC and two partners purchased 250,000 KN95 filtering facepiece respirators from a foreign manufacturer. TSC and one of those partners then sold 100,000 masks to a chain of New Jersey grocery stores at prices in excess of prevailing market prices. TSC sold the masks at a price of $5.25 per mask, which amounted to a markup of more than 400 percent from its acquisition cost. Prior to the spread of COVID-19, TSC had no history of selling personal protective equipment. A violation of the Defense Production Act carries a maximum fine of $200,000, or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense, or twice the gross pecuniary loss sustained by any victims of the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing for TSC Agency is scheduled for April 13, 2022.
