Gwinnett Man Sells N95 Masks He Didn't Have, Pleads Guilty: Feds

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — A Lawrenceville man accused of trying to cash in on the COVID-19 pandemic by selling N95 masks he couldn’t produce pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud.

Christopher A. Parris, 41, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud related to a Ponzi scheme in New York, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

In early 2020 as pandemic shutdowns began, Parris offered to sell scarce N95 masks to various medical-supply companies and government entities. But in fact, according to the statement, Parris had no ready access to the masks, no proven supply source and no track record.

Parris eventually pocketed more than $7 million in advance payments while seeking orders in excess of $65 million before he was caught. One of his targets was the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Parris also ran a Ponzi scheme with others between 2011 and 2018, building a list of potential marks by buying up existing investment firms and targeting their clients. Operating mainly out of Rochester, New York, Parris and co-conspirator Perry Santillo obtained more than $115 million from about 1,000 investors, according to court documents. By late 2017 to early 2018, when the scheme collapsed, the two had returned only about $44.8 million of it.

Santillo has already been convicted and is awaiting sentencing. Parris is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 8. He faces up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy regarding the Ponzi scheme, 30 years in prison for wire fraud in connection to a presidentially declared emergency, and 10 years in prison for committing the offense originally charged in the District of Columbia while on release from the Western District of New York.

Read the statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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