Queens Trio Busted For Price Gouging Face Masks Amid Coronavirus

FLUSHING, QUEENS — Three Queens men were arrested Friday on price-gouging charges for selling face masks at 10 times their normal price — the same day the state started requiring New Yorkers to cover their faces in public.

An undercover detective with the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force busted the men Friday morning after posing as a buyer and responding to a Craigslist post that advertised 1,000 R95 face masks for $10 each, instead of their normal price of up to $1 each, according to the Queens district attorney's office.

The detective met up with the trio at an undisclosed location in Flushing, where the men pulled boxes full of the 3M-branded respirators from the trunk of a car, prosecutors said.

The men — Queens residents Yuriy Borukhov, 33, Maisey Khovasov, 23, and Michael Borukhov, 23 — were placed under arrest after exchanging the masks for $10,000 in cash from the faux buyer. The men received desk-appearance tickets and are due to appear in court on Aug. 15.

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“We are in the midst of a global pandemic. Thousands of people have died and medical workers do not have enough personal protection equipment to do their jobs safely," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. "Sadly, these 3 men allegedly thought about pocketing a profit as a result of the coronavirus outbreak by price gouging."

On March 16, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced an emergency rule that makes price gouging illegal for any item or service needed to combat the outbreak of the new coronavirus, such as face masks and cleaning products.

New Yorkers who think they were overcharged should file a complaint online or call 311 and say "Overcharge."

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