70-year-old Oregon man sentenced to federal prison for selling counterfeit masks
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A 70-year-old Oregon man has been sentenced to federal prison for selling counterfeit masks in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Court documents filed on Monday show that West Linn resident Jiang Yu was sentenced to six months in Sheridan’s Federal Correctional Institution. He first pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods in December 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
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Records show Yu and co-conspirators “knowingly and intentionally” sold masks with fake approval labels, such as “NIOSH” or “3M,” from May 2020 to early June 2020. The Attorney’s Office reported that they used social media and other methods to advertise and sell the masks.
Officials also wrote that conspirators would show customers fraudulent certificates when the authenticity of the masks was questioned.
It is estimated that the group sold at least $2.5 million worth of masks. Additionally, USAO said most transactions involved third-party companies that later sold the masks to healthcare providers.
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Jiang agreed to a plea requiring him to pay nearly $250,000 in restitution and forfeit around 600,000 fake N95 masks, along with “all proceeds of his crimes.” This included his 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo, a Mercedes SUV and more than $25,000 in cash.
The maximum sentence for his offense was 10 years in federal prison, a fine of $2 million and three years of supervised release.
Over three years ago, the Homeland Security Department announced an investigation into a counterfeit mask scam occurring in at least five states — but the agency did not specify which ones.
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However, Washington officials found that about 300,000 masks they purchased for $1.4 million were fraudulent. AP News also reported that, as of February 2021, law enforcement had seized 10 million fake 3M masks nationwide.
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