Christopher A. Parris, 41, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud related to a Ponzi scheme, as well as to wire fraud involving the fraudulent sale of purported N95 masks during the pandemic. With respect to the COVID-19 fraud scheme, Parris pleaded guilty to defrauding VA, as well as at least eight other victim companies, in a scheme involving personal protection equipment (PPE). Between February and April 10, 2020, the defendant, as the owner and operator of Encore Health Group, a company based in Atlanta that purported to broker medical equipment, offered to sell scarce PPE, including 3M-brand N95 respirator masks, to various medical supply companies and governmental entities, while knowingly misrepresenting his access to, and ability to obtain and deliver the PPE on time. In March 2021, Parris offered to sell VA 125 million N95 masks at a cost of $6.45 per mask. In this process, the defendant attempted to obtain an upfront payment of $3.075 million from the VA, even though he knew at the time that he had no access to the promised masks or present ability to deliver the promised masks.
“The urgent need to protect veterans and VA healthcare workers during this fast-moving pandemic required VA to rapidly purchase personal protective equipment,” said VA Inspector General Michael J. Missal. “Working with our law enforcement partners, the VA Office of Inspector General stopped a criminal who was attempting to profit from this horrible crisis and prevented the government and taxpayers from being defrauded of hundreds of millions of dollars. The VA OIG will continue to work zealously to ensure schemes like this are uncovered, investigated, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
