CHICAGO (AP) - A northern Illinois businessman was charged Thursday with price gouging customers seeking to purchase of protective masks at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago announced Thursday.
Krikor Topouzian of Winnetka was charged Thursday in a criminal information with violating anti-price gouging laws. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum of one year in prison.
Topouzian, 60, the owner of a Skokie-based medical supply company, is accused of accumulating in March and April about 80,000 respirator masks for roughly just over $5 each. He later sold nearly 40,000 of the masks to customers for prices as high as $19.95 per mask.
Prosecutors allege nearly all of the sales were made to individual customers. They also say he continued selling the masks at inflated prices despite being repeatedly warned of its illegality.
“Amassing and reselling personal protective equipment at large markups during a global health crisis is not only greedy, it’s illegal under the Defense Production Act,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said in a written statement.
Defense attorney Thomas Leinenweber said in a statement that it was unfortunate Topouzian was charged “with something that he absolutely did not do.”
An arraignment date for Topouzian had not been set as of Thursday.
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