COVID

Attorney general’s office trying to get back $15 million spent on pandemic masks that never arrived

Massachusetts ultimately received the hand sanitizer it ordered, as well as an $18,000 “donation” from the company.

updated on October 19, 2022

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After receiving more than $15 million to supply Massachusetts with masks at the start of the pandemic, a company allegedly bought the masks with state funds and never delivered them, according to the attorney general’s office.

COVID in Mass.

In court documents filed Monday, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said it is investigating USiDG LLC, which was incorporated in Wyoming on March 16, 2020 — just days after Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency.

Later that month, Massachusetts put in two emergency orders with New Jersey-based IDDC Global Brands LLC for a total of eight million masks and 30,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, according to court documents. Unknown to the state, the company arranged for USiDG to provide the masks.

The state was later made aware of “multiple performance issues” with the contracts and canceled them, demanding that the money be returned, according to the filing.

However, the AG’s office alleges that USiDG instead used Massachusetts’ money to buy seven million masks from Chinese manufacturers.

Massachusetts ultimately received the hand sanitizer it ordered, as well as an $18,000 “donation” from USiDG. The company told the AG’s office that it “sold a portion of the masks and wished to donate the proceeds of that sale to the Commonwealth,” according to court documents.

The AG’s petition, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, seeks to enforce a civil investigative demand (CID) the office issued to USiDG in August 2021.

“This company received millions of dollars of state funds for masks it never delivered, and it continues to stonewall our investigation,” said Healey spokeswoman Chloe Gotsis. “USiDG is not above the law, and we are asking the Court to compel the company to answer our basic questions about its unauthorized expenditure of taxpayer dollars.”

The state has requested documents pertaining to USiDG’s organizational structure and mask and hand sanitizer sales, among other documents.

While the court filings focus on USiDG, the AG’s office wrote in one document that it is also investigating other entities and individuals regarding the orders.