Hoarder sells N-95 masks for 18 times retail price, Ohio AG says. Now he’s being sued

An Ohio man hoarded more than 1,000 N95 respirator masks during the coronavirus pandemic and tried to sell 10-packs of them for $375, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Yost filed a lawsuit against the individual, Mario Salwan, of Chagrin Falls, alleging he and his co-conspirators were price gouging. Salwan sold 10-packs of the PPE (personal protective equipment) masks under the eBay username “Donkey476” at prices ranging from $360 to $375, Yost said.

The masks had an individual retail price of $2.05 before the pandemic, according to the attorney general. Salwan and his group bought 1,200 masks in March and later sold some to 15 people in the past few weeks before being sued.

“There’s another word for donkey that immediately comes to mind when thinking about these folks,” Yost said in a news release. “We will continue to take action against anyone else in this state price gouging during this pandemic.”

Many states throughout the country have reported shortages of N95 respirator masks while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

An emergency room nurse who is married to an ER physician found the eBay listing and urged the seller to reconsider his prices, Yost said. He declined and told the nurse, “you and your husband should work for free during this crisis, you are greedy,” according to Yost.

The 1,700-percent markup of the items meant Salwan was in violation of the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, as well as the state’s antitrust Valentine Act, the attorney general said in explaining the lawsuit.

The court has asked Salwan to surrender all of the masks to the state “in exchange for reasonable compensation,” the attorney general said. Yost is also seeking a temporary restraining order against the eBay account and to stopSalwan from acquiring additional masks that aren’t for his personal or household needs.

Salwan told WBNS of his actions, “that was a mistake. I’m working on it right now.”

This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Hoarder sells N-95 masks for 18 times retail price, Ohio AG says. Now he’s being sued."