Massachusetts

Mass. man and brother sentenced for fake N95 mask price gouging scheme

Published

8 months ago

April 13, 2025

Mass. man and brother sentenced for fake N95 mask price gouging scheme

A Massachusetts man and his brother have been sentenced in connection with a scheme to price gouge hospitals for face masks that were misbranded as N95 respirators during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Norfolk, Massachusetts, resident Jeffrey Motha, 36, and Miami, Florida, resident Daniel Motha, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of introduction of misbranded devices into interstate commerce and one count of conspiracy to commit price gouging in October 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release. A federal judge sentenced each brother to one year of probation and ordered them to pay a $9,500 fine in connection with the charges.

The two brothers co-owned a now-defunct Florida-based company called JDM Supply LLC that conspired with another company, Advoque Safeguard LLC — a PPE manufacturer, to distribute face masks that were misbranded as National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved N95 respirators in the spring of 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

JDM Supply misled one hospital into believing that the masks were NIOSH-approved N95s, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. As a result, the hospital accepted and paid for approximately 850,000 of the face masks at a total price of approximately $2.6 million.

JDM Supply sent the hospital NIOSH-passing test results and approval documents for a different mask, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. But ultimately, the hospital did not use the masks, which were eventually returned to Advoque.

In August 2020, a NIOSH lab tested a sample of the masks that had been shipped to the hospital, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. The masks tested between 83.94% and 93.24% filtration efficiency, thus falling below the 95% minimum level of filtration efficiency required for N95 respirators.

In August 2023, Norfolk, Massachusetts, resident Jason Colantuoni pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit price gouging in connection the case, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Colantuoni is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23, 2025.

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Massachusetts

Healey signs $2.3 billion law to close out Massachusetts’ 2025 fiscal year

Published

7 hours ago

November 25, 2025

Press Room

Healey signs .3 billion law to close out Massachusetts’ 2025 fiscal year

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday signed a $2.31 billion spending bill to settle the books at MassHealth and steer funding to former Steward Health Care hospitals and the program that covers some care costs for uninsured and underinsured patients.

The Legislature shipped the spending package to Healey’s desk last Wednesday, which was the last day of formal sessions for the year. Spokesperson Karissa Hand told the News Service Tuesday afternoon that Healey signed the closeout.

The package allocates $1.67 billion for MassHealth, $374 million for Steward hospital payments, $10 million in hosting costs tied to next year’s World Cup games, $18.3 million for student financial aid and $10 million for “operational and technical enhancements” at the Department of Transitional Assistance.

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup next year, local organizers say Massachusetts has yet to keep its end of the deal to help fund certain services.

The law closing the books on fiscal 2025 also increases an assessment on hospital to generate more money for the Health Safety Net program and authorizes a $50 million transfer into the account from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund.

Lawmakers opted to withhold the majority of appropriations sought by sheriffs to settle county budgets, as they wait on the inspector general to file an interim report by the end of February.

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Massachusetts

E-bike crash that killed boy, 13, spurs safety talk on Beacon Hill

Published

1 day ago

November 24, 2025

Press Room

E-bike crash that killed boy, 13, spurs safety talk on Beacon Hill

As officials investigate the crash that killed a teenager on an electric dirt bike in Stoneham, Massachusetts, last week, House Speaker Ron Mariano on Monday expressed an interest in beefing up enforcement and potentially installing new licensing requirements.

A 13-year-old boy struck a Toyota Corolla on Friday afternoon as the car was making a left turn, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office. The boy was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Mariano called the crash a “tragedy.”

“But we have begun to look at making sure that the rules that are in place are enforced, and if they have to be expanded or training has to be insisted upon, then we begin to do that — to license these folks that ride these bicycles,” Mariano said. “Because if you drive around the City of Boston, I’m sure you’ve been cut off or you’ve been frightened by these folks who are trying to make deliveries and pay very little attention to the traffic pattern or the traffic laws.”

Certain categories of e-bikes do not currently require rider licenses, according to MassBike.

Ryan’s office said its investigation includes the Stoneham Police Department, the State Police Crime Scene Services Section and the Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.

“We want to get to the bottom of it,” Mariano said. “We want to look at ways to make it safer and make sure that folks follow the laws that we have on the books.”

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Massachusetts

How chambers, retail association advocate for business in Massachusetts

Published

2 days ago

November 24, 2025

Press Room

How chambers, retail association advocate for business in Massachusetts

Charles Winokoor
| Special to the Taunton Daily Gazette

The rising cost of health insurance is a major concern for small and large businesses in Massachusetts.
A UMass Donahue Institute survey found 63% of small business owners believe they pay higher health insurance premiums than larger companies.
The Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce created its Government Affairs Council to help local businesses communicate with legislators.
Business groups like the Retailers Association of Massachusetts are urging their members to directly contact state legislators about their concerns.

Elizabeth LaBrecque says the Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce created its Government Affairs Council for a very good reason.

“The idea is for legislators to help local businesses,” said LeBrecque, whose job description at the TACC is Director of Member Development.

LaBrecque, says the cost of health insurance continues to be a major concern among small and large businesses.

“Health insurance is always a major factor,” she said.

A survey of 635 small businesses in the Bay State, conducted in October 2024 by the UMass Donahue Institute in Amherst, found that 63% of respondent business owners – who offer employee health insurance and employ up to 50 full-time workers – strongly agreed with the statement that small businesses and employees in the commonwealth “have to pay higher health insurance premiums than big businesses and government.”

That sentiment was echoed by John Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.

“Health insurance has gone through the roof,” said Hurst, who has been president of the statewide business association for 35 years.

Hurst said that he and his retailers association regularly communicate with state legislators to make their concerns heard.

“And more importantly we urge our members to do that,” he said. “They are the small employers and voters in the legislators’ districts.”

The 4,000-member group also has an online “advocacy center” that connects members with legislators.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts requested that UMass Donahue Institute conduct its survey, which included 635 respondents. The final report based on the survey results was completed in March of 2025.

Hurst also says that as of Jan. 1, 2025, the cost of health insurance for small businesses in the state had increased 13% since 2020.

LaBrecque said the TACC and its seven-member Government Affairs Council is also concerned about cost increases for other types of insurance coverage, which can include workers compensation, general liability and business owner’s policy.

It’s been three and a half years since LeBrecque came on board with the Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce – which also represents the interests of member business owners in the towns of Raynham, Dighton and Berkley. She says the TACC this past year reached a goal of 450 active members as compared to 250 when she was hired to her part-time position.

Some of those newer members, she said, also belong to other commerce chambers representing businesses in cities and towns like Fall River, New Bedford, Bridgewater and Easton.

The TACC, she said, continues to work closely with Taunton-based nonprofit SEED (South Eastern Economic Development Corporation), which provides low-interest business loans, as well as SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), a nonprofit sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Association that holds workshops and provides counseling to budding entrepreneurs.

The chamber’s website also lists a number of state and federal business resources and includes a City of Taunton Business and Development Guide created by Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) as well as a Town of Dighton Business Guide.

LaBrecque said trade tariffs imposed this year by the administration of President Donald Trump initially created concern among local beauty salon proprietors. But those fears of paying higher prices for certain products, she said, have since been allayed.

“There’s been a lot of uncertainty this year. It’s been a rocky economy,” LaBrecque said, adding that “we’re telling all our new businesses to spend wisely.”

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