LI Brothers Plead Guilty To Price-Gouging, Hoarding PPE

OYSTER BAY, NY — Two Long Island business owners pleaded guilty Wednesday to hoarding PPE and price-gouging customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brothers Allen Goldmeier, 68, of Oyster Bay, and Steven Goldmeier, 64, of Plainview, admitted to using their toy company — Millennium Products Group — to obtain millions of three-ply surgical masks from China and selling them to consumers at exorbitant prices, according to prosecutors. The move was in violation of the Defense Production Act of 1950, which was invoked in March 2020 due to the public health crisis.

Each mask cost between $0.18 and $0.60, but the brothers sold them to customers — including the State of Oklahoma — for about $1.65 per mask, prosecutors said. In some cases, that's a markup of more than 900 percent.

"The defendants selfishly sought to make millions of dollars in profits during an unprecedented public health crisis by hoarding and selling at exorbitant prices personal protective equipment that was desperately needed by the State of Oklahoma to protect the public health and safety, and save lives," said U.S. Acting United States Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis. "This Office will continue to do everything in its power to enforce the Defense Production Act and ensure that opportunists like the defendants are held accountable for their indiscriminate acts of greed."

Prosecutors say the defendants will pay $1 million in restitution to the State of Oklahoma prior to sentencing in this matter. They also face up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $10,000.