Article

2020-04-25 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Tons of sanitizer: NY Retailer charged with hoarding, gouging

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors charged a New York retailer Friday with hoarding tons of disposable masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer in a Long Island warehouse and selling the items at huge markups.

Amardeep "Bobby" Singh, 45, was charged with violating the Defense Production Act of 1950 in what authorities described as the first such prosecution during the coronavirus pandemic.

Singh is expected to surrender to authorities next week in the case around what is known as personal protective equipment, which has become a hot commodity during the outbreak.

Singh’s attorney, Bradley Gerstman, called the charges "mostly fiction" and said the complaint misstated his client’s costs.

"If selling PPE goods is improper or criminal, then a lot of people need to go to jail," Gerstman said in a telephone interview. "The Defense Production Act is wildly vague, and I don’t think this would pass muster on any appellate level. I think this statute would be struck down as null and void."

The charges come more than a month after President Donald Trump issued an executive order making it illegal to hoard scarce medical supplies or sell personal protective equipment at inflated prices.

Posted by Besoeker 2020-04-25 12:02|| || Front Page|| [11141 views ] Top

#1 Cautionary note for "Bobby."

New York's Rikers Island Jail Sees First Inmate Death From COVID-19

Posted by Besoeker 2020-04-25 12:14|| 2020-04-25 12:14|| Front Page Top

#2 Even if true, it was o.k. for airlines to increase prices for people wanting to flee a hurricane, a hurricane the a US Gummint agency said would slam the area. But guess what? The hurricane didn't hit with the force they said it would. So, two messed up things here. Meanwhile, airline execs were laughing all the way to their brokers for more stock buy-backs.

Posted by Clem 2020-04-25 12:14|| 2020-04-25 12:14|| Front Page Top

#3 A bloody damn Sardar Ji, figures.

Posted by Pakvi Roti 2020-04-25 12:33|| 2020-04-25 12:33|| Front Page Top

#4 But if he was selling it online, it would be ok?

Thought crossed my mind the other day looking for something the fishball people bought up.

Posted by swksvolFF 2020-04-25 13:03|| 2020-04-25 13:03|| Front Page Top

#5 When they had Bobby dead to rights, did the cops make him fess up and singh?

Posted by Raj 2020-04-25 13:05|| 2020-04-25 13:05|| Front Page Top

#6 A bloody damn Sardar Ji, figures.
Posted by: Pakvi Roti

I had to look both names up (and then insist to the DuckDuck search engine that I am not interested in Pavarotti at the moment, thanks) but only on Rantburg have I encountered such esoteric jokes posted with the full expectation that they will be understood and appreciated. Well played, Mr. Roti.

Posted by trailing wife 2020-04-25 13:52|| 2020-04-25 13:52|| Front Page Top

#7 I looked up both after your comment, TW. Found a pickles reference, but DD only looped back to your comment on RB. So, too esoteric for me but hilarious in that it presented your comment; a kind of temporal loop.

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2020-04-25 15:06|| 2020-04-25 15:06|| Front Page Top

#8 Rantburg: Mobius Strip or Ouraboros? Discuss :-)

Posted by Frank G 2020-04-25 15:28|| 2020-04-25 15:28|| Front Page Top

#9 Sardaar Ji

When I ran my search, Pakvi Roti popped up writing critiques of the thing.

Posted by trailing wife 2020-04-25 18:51|| 2020-04-25 18:51|| Front Page Top

#10 Sardar or Sardaar refers to a male Sikh, the "Ji" is an honorific similar to Sir. A femal Sikh would be referred to as a Sardar Ni.

My nym is even more interesting. Roti of course is Indian form of flat bread like parantha's or chapattis. Pakvi is a very obscure (almost slang) Punjabi word from pre-partition Punjab village called Multan. A roti that well cooked was said to be pakvi. The thrust of the my comments was to imply that the gentleman that was busted is a Sikh and his behavior is not unusual for a Sikh.

I do hope I haven't thrown the time/space equilibrium out of whack.

Posted by Pakvi Roti 2020-04-25 19:26|| 2020-04-25 19:26|| Front Page Top

#11 So esoteric it doesn’t show up on the internet? Rantburgers for the win!

Posted by trailing wife 2020-04-25 21:47|| 2020-04-25 21:47|| Front Page Top

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