A Johns Creek man attempted to sell 50 million face masks to a foreign country, according to federal investigators. He would then get a cut of the $317 million his company would make selling the masks at more than 500% higher prices.
But Paul Penn didn’t have the masks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
And when the funds were wired from another country, the U.S. Postal Service halted the scheme.
“If not for the vigilance of the U.S. Secret Service, Paul Penn and his co-conspirators likely would have lit the fuse on an international scandal by ripping off a friendly foreign government for more than $300 million,” U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine said Tuesday in an emailed statement. “Instead, they halted the scheme before the criminals got a dime, and prevented these crooks from profiting from pandemic fear.”
Penn, 64, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Christine’s office said. He was sentenced to five months and 29 days of home confinement, fined $1,500 and ordered to serve three years of probation.
Penn was working through his company, Spectrum Global Holdings, and unnamed conspirators in the scheme, according to prosecutors. All of the funds were returned to the foreign country, which was not identified by Christine’s office.
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