The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bainbridge Twp. man responds to charges of price gouging
A Bainbridge Township man sued by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for alleged price gouging said he did not purchase any N95 respirator masks during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has accused Mario Salwan, along with others, of hoarding N95 masks and selling them for nearly 18 times the retail price through a now defunct eBay account with the user name “Donkey476.”
Salwan responded to the Attorney General’s Office through a statement released by his attorney Jordan Berns. Salwan said that he owns a construction business and his employees use N95 masks as
basic personal protection when working with construction dust from concrete sanding.
“In March of 2019, well before the discovery of the coronavirus, my company purchased 2,800 N95 masks, at a bulk purchase discount, for use on construction sites and used most of them for that purpose over the past year,” Salwan said.
Salwan said that like many businesses, his has struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s stay at home order.
“I realized my business would not need the same quantity of masks as before the pandemic, so to help keep the business afloat and generate an income, I offered one box of 10 N95 masks for auction on eBay to determine the current market pricing,” he said. “The box sold for $370.50 and I then offered more of the masks for sale, prepackaged in their original boxes of 10 masks per box, for up to $375 per box over the following few days.”
The lawsuit filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in Franklin County Common Pleas Court alleges that the Donkey476 account ramped up operations during March acquiring more than 1,200 N95 masks.
“(The group’s) bulk acquisitions exacerbated the growing shortage of N95 Masks available in the marketplace for purchase by Ohio citizens with health concerns, and by Ohio health care workers,” the lawsuit states.
The Attorney General’s Office alleges that the Donkey476 account sold the masks for an average price of $36.34 a mask. Prior to Ohio’s state of emergency declaration declared over the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail market price of N95 masks was typically $1.75 to $2.35 per mask, for an average retail price of $2.05 per mask, according to the lawsuit.
Salwan said that he did not buy the masks with the intention of selling them.
“No one had heard of the coronavirus when I bought them over a year ago,” he said. “Once business slowed due to the coronavirus, I tried to get the masks I had purchased over a year ago into the hands of people who wanted them at a price that the market determined – and nothing more.
My purchase of masks over a year ago did not contribute to the shortage of masks during this pandemic or limit the supply to health professionals, and my intent was not to hurt anyone.”
The Attorney General’s lawsuit states that on March 28, an emergency room nurse whose husband is an emergency room physician saw the listing for N95 masks in the Donkey476 store on eBay.
She allegedly reached out to Salwan, asking him to reconsider the “exorbitant prices for this PPE (personal protective equipment) that healthcare workers across the nation so desperately need due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Salwan allegedly responded, “You and your husband should work for free during this crisis, you are greedy!”
The Attorney General’s Office argues in the lawsuit that Salwan’s response “indicates not only his keen awareness of the crisis, but also his callous indifference to it.”
The office is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions as well as statutory civil forfeiture. His office is also asking the court make Donkey476 surrender all of its N95 masks to the state in exchange for reasonable compensation.
“I want to make this right and the best way I can think to do that is, subject to the Ohio Attorney General’s approval, donating the hundreds of masks I have remaining to our local healthcare facilities in (N) ortheast Ohio,” Salwan said. Their employees are risking their lives every day to care for those suffering from COVID19 and should have access to more personal protective equipment.
Salwan ended his statement by saying “I’m sorry I did this.” He said the matter has caused his family and employees to fear for their safety.
“I will do better,” Salwan said. “I know my actions angered many, but I humbly ask the people I upset to please refrain from threatening my employees and family. I hope that we all can live peacefully together moving forward through these unprecedented times.”
A spokesperson for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office said April 16 that Salwan’s attorney has been in contact and Salwan is cooperating with the office. The spokesperson added, “we cannot comment on pending litigation.”