Two Ocean County, New Jersey, import companies have agreed to resolve violations of the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 for price-gouging customers of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic by agreeing to sell at cost approximately 11 million items of PPE seized from three warehouses by law enforcement in April 2020. The two companies — CSG Imports LLC and KG Imports LLC, both of Lakewood, New Jersey — have also agreed to disgorge $400,000 in profits relating to transactions with two customers who purchased PPE from CSG Imports at excessive prices and to compensate those customers for their losses. The resolutions arise out of law enforcement’s April 22, 2020, seizure of over 11 million items of PPE — predominantly N-95 respirator face masks and three-ply disposable face masks — owned by CSG Imports and KG Imports from three warehouses in Lakewood. Law enforcement seized the PPE after learning that the companies were violating the DPA by offering for sale and selling scarce PPE at prices in excess of prevailing market prices for those items.
