The Health and Human Services Department said Thursday it had distributed some 192,000 N95 face masks and a large haul of other scarce medical supplies that the FBI had seized during the arrest of a Brooklyn man.
Baruch Feldheim, 43, was arrested Monday after he allegedly coughed on FBI agents and told them he had the coronavirus. Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Feldheim sold the N95 masks to doctors and nurses at inflated prices; in one instance at as much as a 700% markup.
They’re now being distributed to health care workers in New York and New Jersey. The department used its authority under the Defense Production Act to make the move.
In addition to the N95 masks, the haul included 598,000 medical-grade gloves, 130,000 surgical and other masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant towels, particulate filters and bottles of hand sanitizer and spray disinfectants, the Justice Department and HHS said in a press release.
