Troy businessman sentenced for hoarding and price gouging facemasks

ALBANY, N.Y. » Imran Selcuk, 35, of Troy, was recently sentenced to three years of probation for hoarding and price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA).

The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

As part of his March 5, 2021 misdemeanor guilty plea, Selcuk admitted that, in March 2020, he purchased approximately 100,000 KN95 facemasks and 25,000 surgical-style facemasks for $1 per mask and 50 cents per mask, respectively. Selcuk then offered these masks for sale at his Troy pizza restaurant and through a website for as much as ten times his acquisition cost. Selcuk also admitted that his website falsely represented that the KN95 masks he offered for sale were certified by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, the FDA does not “certify” facemasks.

United States Magistrate Judge Christian F. Hummel also ordered Selcuk to pay a $2,500 fine.

This case was investigated by HSI, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael D. Gadarian and Joshua R. Rosenthal.

This case was brought in coordination with the Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force, which organizes efforts among the Antitrust Division and U.S. Attorney’s offices across the country to address illegal activity involving personal protective equipment.