A Georgia con man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with an attempted $65 million PPE scheme that included him trying to rip off the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in a bogus sale of face masks.

News of 41-year-old Christopher Parris’ guilty plea comes as interest in personal protective equipment (PPE) begins to rise again in the promotional products industry amid a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the delta variant. Parris’ fraud is a reminder to both promo companies and end-buyers to carefully vet partners from which they source/buy masks and other PPE. 

Parris also pleaded guilty in an separate case involving a Ponzi scheme he and an accomplice perpetuated for years.

In the PPE case, Parris defrauded the VA and at least eight other entities in dealings he advanced as the owner and operator of Encore Health Group, an Atlanta, GA-based outfit that purported to broker medical equipment.

Parris’ ploy was to try to sell the entities what was then scarce PPE, including 3M-branded N95 respirator masks, by pretending to have access to the supplies when he knew he did not have such access.

“The defendant falsely represented that he was able to obtain 3M N95 masks directly from authorized sources in the United States, when in fact, he had no ready access to 3M factories or 3M N95 masks or other PPE, no proven source of supply, and no track record of procuring and delivering such items,” the government explained in a statement.

In March 2021, Parris offered to sell the VA 125 million 3M N95 masks at a cost of $6.45 per mask. In this process, he sought an upfront payment of more than $3 million from the VA, even though he knew at the time that he had no access to the promised masks or ability to deliver them.

Beyond trying to scam the VA, Parris was successful in snaring upfront payments, totaling $7.4 million, from at least eight unsuspecting victims. Overall, Parris admitted that he sought total orders of more than $65 million for non-existent PPE and that the proceeds of his con totaled nearly $6.22 million.

“Preying on companies and the Department of Veterans Affairs as they sought to protect their employees and patients from this pandemic is beyond the pale,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia. “The department and our law enforcement partners will catch and stop those who take advantage of public health emergencies to perpetrate such frauds.”

In the Ponzi scheme case, Parris pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. His co-conspirator, Perry Santillo, previously pleaded guilty.

Over a span of 6 ½ years starting in January 2012, the two crooks obtained at least $115.5 million from approximately 1,000 investors through the scheme. Victims included a New York couple that invested $221,758, only to lose more than $214,000.

“By the time the scheme collapsed in late-2017/early 2018, Parris and Santillo, doing business through an array of corporate entities, had returned approximately $44.8 million to investors as part of their scheme, but continued to owe investors approximately $70.7 million in principal,” the government noted.

Parris, originally from Rochester, NY, is set to be sentenced on Dec. 8. He faces up to 30 years in prison on the PPE charges.