Punjab-origin man charged with hoarding, price-gouging PPE in US

If convicted under the Defence Production Act , which is a misdemeanour charge, he faces up to one year in prison

A 45-year-old Indian-origin man has become the first person to face criminal charges in the US under the country’s Defence Production Act for allegedly hoarding the scarce personal protective equipment and selling it at huge mark-ups during the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities said.

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Amardeep Singh stockpiled tonnes of respirators, surgical gowns, hand sanitisers and other personal protective equipment (PPE) at a Long Island warehouse and sold it online through various websites and Nassau County storefronts at “unconscionably excessive prices,” Prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said in a statement on Friday.

A criminal complaint was filed on Friday in a federal court in Central Islip charging Singh with violating the Defence Production Act (DPA) of 1950 by hoarding PPE at a warehouse in Brentwood, New York, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and price-gouging customers of his retail store in Plainview, New York, the statement said.

If convicted under the DPA, which is a misdemeanour charge, Singh faces up to one year in prison. He will self-surrender to authorities next week, the US Attorney’s Office said.