CHICAGO—A Illinois businessman has been convicted of price-gouging in connection with the sale of N95 masks during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Krikor Topouzian, 62, of Winnetka, was convicted Thursday in federal court in Chicago following a bench trial, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He could face up to a year in prison when he’s sentenced Oct. 10.
Topouzian owned a health supply company in Skokie, Illinois, according to prosecutors. He purchased about 80,000 N95 masks in March and April of 2020 for about $5 per mask and then sold them for about $20 per mask, prosecutors said. He boasted about making as much as $80,000 per day and $1 million in a matter of weeks, prosecutors said.
The masks has been labeled “scarce materials” during the pandemic as part of the Defense Production Act.
Topouzian’s attorneys, listed in online court records as Thomas More Leinenweber and Matthew John McQuaid, didn’t immediately respond to an email Sunday seeking comment on the case.
