Florida man arrested for selling $20 million worth of nonexistent N95 masks: FDLE
Close-up of N95 respirator mask during an outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, San Francisco, California, March 30, 2020. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
ROCKLEDGE, Fla. - A Rockledge man was arrested for allegedly offering to fraudulently sell a Canadian healthcare company more than 20 million N95 masks at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.
Esmeraldo Enrique, 79, was arrested on one count of organized fraud after he offered to the sell 20 million N95 masks as part of a $20 million deal.
Law enforcement said Enrique was doing business as Enrique Technologies & Trading LLC (ETT) when he entered into a deal to sell the masks to the Canadian healthcare company.
He told the company to pay a $500,000 down payment to him and a $1.8 million to an account in Cairo, Egypt, where the nonexistent masks were stored.
Agents said Enrique was working with a known scam artist in Egypt to carry through the crime. Enrique reportedly "shopped for victims" and once he found the Canadian company, he gave them fraudulent offers to buy different quantities of masks.
After the company made its payment toward the $20 million deal, Enrique offered to sell $40 million worth of masks.
When the company didn't receive the masks, they contacted Enrique several times for a refund that they never received.
On Wednesday, he was booked into the Brevard County Jail on a $10,000 bond.