Authorities investigate $1.8M sale of bogus masks to Clinic

CLEVELAND — Federal authorities are investigating shipments of counterfeit, faulty masks to hospitals across the country, including a $1.8 million sale to the Cleveland Clinic last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials are examining a Pennsylvania company that sent more than 400,000 masks to the Clinic, as well as boxloads to healthcare providers in Connecticut and Delaware, records show. The Clinic issued more than 50,000 of the masks to its healthcare workers before learning they were fake.

Some Clinic employees tested positive for the coronavirus after using the counterfeit masks while working on high-risk wards earlier this year, according to a court filing.

For months, authorities have indicated that hospitals across the country have been hit by counterfeiters profiting off the pandemic. But the court documents, filed by federal prosecutors in Cleveland and New Haven, Connecticut, offer the first detailed accounts of one of the largest investigations into the counterfeit masks and how health care providers were duped.

The documents identified Q2 Solutions, a company in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, as the business that sold the masks to hospitals as a third-party provider. A filing in U.S. District Court in Cleveland says the company operates several retail websites to sell personal protective equipment.

“The investigation indicates that Q2 Solutions may have sold counterfeit PPE to at least 20 medical facilities,” says the filing, which asks a judge to allow the government to seize the counterfeit masks shipped to Cleveland.

An attorney for the business, Keith Gregory, said the company denies the allegations in the documents. He declined to comment further, citing the ongoing federal investigation.

In December, agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security received information that Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, Delaware, obtained 35,000 N95 surgical masks from Q2 Solutions for $164,500, according to court filings. N95 masks are widely considered the gold standard for protection against the coronavirus.

The hospital’s employees complained about the fit of the masks, as well as “the smell of oil or chemical” in them. That prompted administrators to reach out to the maker, 3M Innovative Properties Co. It determined that the masks were counterfeit, based on their construction, according to court filings.

An employee of Q2 Solutions sent an email to a corporate administrator of the hospital, saying the company was working with other major hospitals across the country. But federal agents determined the company never did business with some of the agencies it had mentioned, including hospitals in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The incident in Delaware came a month after an employee of Q2 Solutions emailed the Clinic and said it had 3M-branded masks for sale. The Clinic requested proof of authenticity of the 3M masks.

The documents indicate that the company sent a video, along with photographs that showed a warehouse filled with the N95 masks. To be classified as N95, respirator masks must meet standards from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and filter 95% of airborne particles.

Between November and December, the Clinic placed four orders with Q2 Solutions for a total of 100,080 masks, according to the documents. It paid $440,352 for the first shipment and $450,360 for each of the next three.

During the first week of January, Clinic nurses noticed that the masks were not fitting well and were too small, the documents said. The Clinic contacted 3M in a series of emails.

Officials at 3M cited the improper printing and packaging of the masks, as well as the physical appearance, and determined the items were bogus.

“Cleveland Clinic also told law enforcement that some of the [counterfeit] 3M masks it had purchased from Q2 Solutions were issued for use on several high-risk COVID19 wards and that during the time that healthcare workers were using these masks on these high-risk wards, several of these employees tested positive for COVID19,” a filing says.

The Clinic said in January that it took immediate steps to remove the counterfeit masks from its hospitals and replace them with approved supplies.

Through August, Q2 Solutions had not repaid the

Clinic for the counterfeit masks, according to court records.

“We continue to work with authorities on their investigation and remain committed to helping prevent healthcare-related fraud,” the Clinic said in a statement Wednesday.

A spokeswoman also said the Clinic did not provide information to law enforcement officials about employees becoming ill with the virus while using the masks. It is unclear how federal agents obtained the information included in the filing.

Federal officials also learned that Q2 Solutions shipped more than 65,000 masks to Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, earlier this year for $317,340. Federal officials seized 535 boxes of masks in March, according to the filings.

“A small but undetermined amount of the counterfeit masks had already been used” prior to federal agents contacting the hospital, the records show.

It is unclear from the documents where the investigation stands. Spokesmen for federal prosecutors in Cleveland and New Haven, Connecticut, declined to comment.

A message left for 3M was not returned. The company, based in Maplewood, Minnesota, said on its website that it has received nearly 16,000 reports of fraud, with law enforcement seizing more than 55 million counterfeit masks.

“We have also filed lawsuits in courts across the country against wrongdoers, terminated 3M distributors for engaging in price gouging or violating 3M policy and collaborated with law enforcement and technology companies to combat fraud,” the company said.

The hospital’s employees complained about the fit of the masks, as well as ‘the smell of oil or chemical’ in them.