By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI uncovered an international scam to sell a fake stockpile of 39 million masks to a California union representing health care workers.
FBI agents discovered there were no masks while trying to determine whether they could intercept the supplies for the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Defense Production Act, The Los Angeles Times first reported.
U.S. Atty. Scott Brady of the Western District of Pennsylvania said the union, which he did not identify, was duped.
A Pittsburgh businessman had been trying to help the union secure millions of masks by connecting with a broker in Australia and a supplier in Kuwait, Brady said. Now the broker and supplier are the subject of a federal investigation.
“There are opportunists who are looking for any victim,” Brady said.
The union and businessman are not under investigation.
