Bergen Company Fined, Given Probation For Price Gouging Face Masks: Officials

MAHWAH, NJ — A Mahwah logistics and freight forwarding company will have to pay $67,668 and be on probation for a year after pleading guilty to price gouging, officials announced.

Representatives for TSC Agency LLC pleaded guilty to the charge in December, according to the Department of Justice.

TSC and two partner companies bought 250,000 KN95 respirator masks from a foreign manufacturer around March 17, 2020 for $1.09 per mask, court documents show. One of the partner companies agreed to sell 100,000 masks to an unnamed grocery chain.

The company bought the masks at $5.25 per mask, a total of $525,000, according to court documents.

"The Grocery Chain did not further mark up the price of the masks to generate profits," court documents state. "Rather, the Grocery Chain provided certain of the masks free of charge to its employees and charged customers less than what it paid to the Partnership on a per-mask basis."

TSC "had no history of selling personal protective equipment," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey said at the time.

This markup of more than 400 percent was in violation of the Defense Production Act, officials said.