Rnick in the news. Know what you own Feb thru M

Rnick in the news. Know what you own

Feb thru May 2020 - company had the b@lls to take 33K in PPP money this same year under the same DPA.

It's all publicly available information. Everyone should do their own due diligence and make their own conclusions. No assumptions should be made unless the facts are obvious. The following read might call for some snacks and a beverage, but worth the due diligence read. Please don't shoot the messenger. It's just due diligence.

https://www.courthousenews.com/new-jersey-man...ng-scheme/

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According to the criminal complaint, Romano began hoarding masks in February, when he and a co-conspirator identified by the New York Times as New Jersey businessman Nicholas Campanella began negotiations with a Mexican manufacturer to purchase masks and other personal protective equipment.

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who's that co-conspirator?

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Despite these concerns, the complaint said, that the conspirator attempted to sell masks for Romano, and even provided input on a fake authorization letter that Romano used to pass himself as a 3M representative . Romano would continue to raise prices as he acquired more masks and the Covid-19 pandemic grew.

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fake authorization letter? maybe need to take a closer look at that tweet of Foxess Americas distributor certificate?

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Romano and his co-conspirators used their fictitious credentials to market masks under the 3M brand without 3M’s consent , the complaint claims, while still seeking actual 3M masks to sell and allegedly claiming to the company that N ew York had already made a purchase order from them despite the fact that Romano had yet to submit quotes for the masks.

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Fictitious credentials? And New York already made a purchase order? Reminds me of pre-sold solar panels branded with SPP name as of July 2022

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Romano’s promises that the masks were manufactured in the United States, the complaint said, appealed to city officials, and the city contacted one conspirator, purportedly Campenella, for a reference. He told them he had worked with the newly-created Performance Supply “for numerous orders in the past for surgical masks and medical supplies.”

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Who's he? he had worked with the newly-created Performance Supply “for numerous orders..." Reminds me of those 8 SPP world wide solar panel manufacturing facilities from the 2017 press release and EPC pre-sold solar panels to the tune of 820MW.

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“Instead of reaping millions of dollars, the scheme received a dose of old-fashioned, New York City skepticism from procurement specialists at the City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services,” she said in a statement.

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Looks like some were very fortunate than only one took the fall. How did that happen?

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/new-jers...ity-during

Sealed Complaint: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-relea...1/download

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RONALD ROMANO, the defendant, and others
known and unknown, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired,
confederated, and agreed together and with each other to commit an
offense against the United States , to wit, hoarding of designated
scarce materials, in violation of Title 50, United States Code,

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Section 4512.

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ROMANO is also the President of another New Jersey-based company
(“Vendor-1”) that he and others used in furtherance of the fraud
scheme.

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Co-Conspirator-2 ( “CC -2” ) has interests in various
business entities, including a company that manufactures heating
products ( “CC-2 Company-1” ) with locations in New Jersey and
Ireland. Based on my participation in this investigation,
including my review of email correspondence obtained pursuant to
judicially authorized warrants, I am aware that CC-2 was a friend
and business associate of RONALD ROMANO, the defendant, and claimed
to have sources of supply of certain PPE, including N95 and N99
respirators.

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THE FRAUD SCHEME
ROMANO, CC-1, and CC-2
Enter PPE Market

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Beginning in or about February 2020, RONALD ROMANO,
the defendant, and others, including his business associate, CC-1,
and his friend and business associate, CC-2 , commenced efforts to
obtain for resale large quantities of PPE

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ROMANO and CC-2 discussed, in substance and in
part, that they could get rich quick by closing a sale of
respirators. On March 9, 2020, ROMANO sent a text message to CC-2 ,
stating in part, “I’m working on a few deals that if I get any of
them you might be buying a Ferrari.”

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You get a Ferrari...you get a Ferrari...everyone gets a Ferrari!

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Starting in or about February 2020, ROMANO’s friend
and business associate, CC-2 , began negotiating with a Mexico based company to purchase, for purposes of resale, face coverings
and other PPE, and ROMANO and CC-2 had an ongoing dialogue about
obtaining PPE from various sources

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On or about March 12, 2020, CC-2 emailed ROMANO,
among others, about a separate purported opportunity to acquire up
to 400 million 3M-brand respirators. CC-2’s email stated, in part,
that one of CC-2’s entities (“CC-2 Company-2” ), which had a name
similar to CC-2 Company-1’s nam e, “has secured the rights to
manufacture . . . with 3M factories 3M N95 NIOSH particulate
respirator Models 1860 and 8210, with a cap amount of *400 million
units worldwide*.” CC-2 offered per-mask prices of $5.20 and $5.50
for 3M models 8210 and 1860, respectively, on orders of at least
5 million.

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Based on my investigation, CC-2 Company-2 , which,
as described below, ROMANO represented to be a “hedge fund,”
appears to be a fictitious entity. Also, based on my review of
records obtained during the course of the investigation and my
conversations with 3M’s representatives, I am aware that 3M never
agreed to manufacture respirators for CC-2 Company-2 and none of
CC2 Company-1, CC-2 Company-2, or CC-2 was authorized to distribute
3M products or solicit purchase orders from prospective customers
on behalf of 3M.

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In the days that followed, ROMANO (with the
assistance of CC-2) created a document on CC-2 Company-1’s
letterhead stating that Vendor-1 was authorized to sell 3M products
on CC-2 Company-1’s behalf (the “Fictitious Authorization
Letter”). On or about March 15, 2020, ROMANO emailed CC-2 a draft of the Fictitious Authorization Letter. The body of the email
stated, “Make changes if needed.” The draft document that ROMANO had prepared stated:

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CC-2 Company-1 ] through [ CC-2 Company-2 has secured
the rights to manufacture 400 million Units (Masks) with
3M factories in the US. 3M will produce the N95 NIOSH
particulate respirator Models 1860 and 8210 FOB 3M
factories. This letter represents that [Vendor-1] is an authorized
agent to represent our products around the world, to
take and accept orders, deposits, and payment through
their business operations headquartered in Manalapan NJ
USA.

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The following day, on or about March 16, 2020, CC-2
emailed ROMANO a signed copy of the Fictitious Authorization Letter
on CC-2 Company-1 letterhead. CC-2’s spouse signed as the
“President” of CC-2 Company-1 .

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Becomes a family affair

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ROMANO knew or had reason to know that CC-2 Company-1 and CC-2 Company-2 had no ability to procure face respirators from 3M .

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A few days later, on or about March 17, 2020,
ROMANO emailed the Fictitious Authorization Letter to CC-3, but
redacted the name of CC-2 Company-2 , i.e., the “hedge fund” entity
that purportedly had a contract with 3M to manufacture 400 million
respirators.

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The cover up to protect CC-2 begins

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Based on my participation in this investigation,
including my review of email and text correspondence between ROMANO
and CC-2 , I believe that ROMANO was aware that CC-2 and CC-2
Company-2 had no such contract with 3M to obtain 3M-brand face
respirators. I further believe that ROMANO redacted the name of
CC-2 Company-2 in an effort to conceal CC-2’s association with the entity that claimed to have rights to manufacture 3M “masks” with 3M factories.

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Based on my review of emails and text messages between
Broker-1 and the City, and ROMANO and CC-2 , I am aware that ROMANO
and Vendor-1 attempted to sell PPE facemasks to the City at prices
marked up between 390% and 1,129% from the manufacturer’s prices .

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Things falling apart

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By late March, RONALD ROMANO, the defendant, still
had no viable source to obtain 3M respirators. On March 24, 2020,
ROMANO sent a text message to CC-2 , asking if there was “[a]ny
news on N95?” CC-2 responded, in part, “Only Chinese right now
not confident . . . .”

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On or about March 31, 2020, at approximately
11:46 p.m., ROMANO emailed CC-3 and Broker-1 a document that listed
references for Vendor-1 (the “References Document”). The
References Document listed three references: (1) a Purchasing
Agent for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (the
“FDEM”); (2) a naturopathic medical university (the “Medical
University”); and (3) CC-2 and CC-2 Company-1 .

vii. The three references listed on the References
Document were materially false and misleading.

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materially false and misleading? wow...imagine that?

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ROMANO sold face coverings to the Medical
University for approximately $12,000 (not $123,000), and,
according to the Medical University, those face coverings appeared
to be of such inferior quality that the Medical University did not
distribute them.4 Third, the References Document indicated that
Vendor-1 supplied CC-2 and CC-2 Company-1 with 3-ply face
respirators. Based on my participation in this investigation,
including my review of text messages and email correspondence
between ROMANO and CC-2 , I believe this representation was false.
I have seen no indication that ROMANO supplied respirators to CC-2
or CC-2 Company-1 . To the contrary, ROMANO attempted to acquire
respirators from CC-2.

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But based on my review of ROMANO’s, CC-1’s, and CC-2’s
emails , it appears that the original version of the Specification
Document indicated that the face coverings were “3-ply.”
Ultimately, the Medical University attempted to return the face
coverings because staff did not believe they were safe for their
intended use .

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Hundreds dying in NYC nursing homes at this point. Front line desperately workers needing 3M masks by now.

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On or about April 1, 2020, at approximately 12:05
p.m., ROMANO emailed CC-2 a copy of the References Document, and
wrote in the body of the email, “In case they call on the
reference.”

f. Based on my review of records obtained from NYC’s
Office of Citywide Procurement, I am aware that, on or about April
1, 2020, NYC personnel contacted CC-2 , whom ROMANO had listed on
the References Document. NYC personnel notes from that call
indicate that CC-2 stated, in substance and in part, “CC-2 has
worked with [Vendor-1] for numerous orders in the past for surgical
masks and medical supplies. CC-2 advised that [Vendor-1] is
straight forward, delivers on time and that product meets
expectations. ” For the reasons set forth above, CC-2’s statements to NYC appear to have been materially false and misleading.

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materially false and misleading...wow... imagine that?

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Between April 1 and April 2, 2020, ROMANO sent
CC-3, among other things, a “proforma invoice” purporting to
reflect the sale of 100 million 3M-brand respirators from 3M in
the Netherlands to a Peru-based exporter, and a contract between
an entity associated with CC-2 and the Peruvian export company.
The contract was for the sale of 100 million 3M model 8210 face
respirators. Based on my discussions with 3M representatives, I
am aware that these documents are fictitious . Among other things,
the “proforma invoice” listed a non-existent 3M legal entity and
incorrectly stated that the respirators would be manufactured in
Uruguay when, in fact, 3M does not manufacture respirators in
Uruguay.

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Clown car starts to lose the road

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Based on myreview of ROMANO’s and CC-2’s emails, I am aware that ROMANO and CC-2 were able to obtain these facemasks from their source-of supply, the Mexico-based manufacturer, for approximately 28 cents per mask . Thus, ROMANO attempted to sell these three million N99 facemasks at an approximately 500% markup .

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On or about March 30, 2020, the FDEM issued a
purchase order for three million 3-ply N99 facemasks for
$5,460,000. ROMANO and Vendor-1 were unable to deliver these
facemasks, however, because they could not arrange for financing.

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because they could not arrange for financing

Sound familiar??

The END.

in my humble opinion

cheers