How a stockpile of 39 million masks was exposed as fake

[muriel_volestrangler]

A powerful California union that claimed to have discovered 39 million masks for healthcare workers fighting the novel coronavirus was duped in an elaborate scam uncovered by FBI investigators, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.

U.S. Atty. Scott Brady of the Western District of Pennsylvania said FBI agents and prosecutors stumbled onto the arrangement while looking into whether they could intercept the masks for the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Defense Production Act.
...
Brady said investigators tracked the tip back to a Pittsburgh businessman, who said he had been working with the union to secure millions of masks, some of which were purported to be sitting in a Georgia warehouse. Brady said the businessman had been using WhatsApp to connect with a broker in Australia and a supplier in Kuwait, who are both now the target of a federal investigation.
...
The promise of 39 million masks was first made public March 26, when the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West announced it had found the stockpile after 48 hours of frantic phone calls pursuing leads on potential suppliers. The announcement by the union, known as SEIU, was widely covered by major media outlets and listed several hospital systems and government agencies as buyers.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-11/coronavirus-seiu-masks-fraud-fbi

See https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213178957 , and:

39 million masks never materialized at hospitals, sparking a federal investigation

...
Among the intended recipients was Kaiser Permanente, which placed orders for 6 million masks.

A week later, none of those masks have materialized, and Kaiser is cooperating with a federal fraud investigation into the deal, a spokesman for the health plan confirmed.

There is no indication that the union is a target of the investigation, and the exact reasons why the masks didn’t come through remain unclear. But the failed arrangement marks the latest in a smoke-and-mirrors marketplace for equipment in short supply as hospitals and other healthcare facilities in California and beyond prepare for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients.

Experts in the global supply chain say that dubious middlemen have flooded the market with suspect offers, creating an atmosphere of confusion and distrust just as hospitals are desperate to arm their front-line personnel with the gear they need to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-03/coronavirus-seiu-masks-supplies-investigation

[Laelth]

1. k&r for visibility. n/t

-Laelth

[Iggo]

2. So the Feds only found out because they were trying to...um..."intercept" them.

Yeah, thanks guys.

[Phoenix61]

3. So the FBI is out looking for stuff to seize

for FEMA. Interesting. Wonder who came up with that brilliant plan.

[rzemanfl]

4. The bank vault was empty when they they broke into it.

Those bankers should be in jail, lock 'em up.