A Bergen County, New Jersey, company was fined $67,668 today and sentenced to one year of probation for 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, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica S. Allen to an information charging it with price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act.
According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, documents filed in this case and statements made in court, TSC and two partners purchased 250,000 KN95 filtering facepiece respirators from a foreign manufacturer in March 2020.
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.
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