Do you want to make a LOT of money? Trump's got a plan for you:
I. Obtain a government purchase order. This has become startlingly easy after the Trump admin cut "red tape"
II. Leverage that PO to get financing from investors
III. Use the cash to buy masks from China
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I. Obtain a government purchase order. This has become startlingly easy after the Trump admin cut "red tape"
II. Leverage that PO to get financing from investors
III. Use the cash to buy masks from China
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In @propublica, @davidmcswane profiles the kinds of chronic loser grifters who've been transformed into millionaires by the Trump admin's decision to force agencies and states to source their own masks while cutting procurement scrutiny and standards.
propublica.org/article/you-ca…
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propublica.org/article/you-ca…
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Trump's mask millionaires are swell fellows. Take Jason Cardiff, whose previous ventures included:
* Pyramid schemes
* Robocalls
* Quack weight-loss and smoking cessation "remedied"
* Prolongz, a pill that falsely claimed to offer men "increased ejaculation control"
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* Pyramid schemes
* Robocalls
* Quack weight-loss and smoking cessation "remedied"
* Prolongz, a pill that falsely claimed to offer men "increased ejaculation control"
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Cardiff found $10m in private investment capital and founded VPL Medical Inc, putting the business in the name of Bobby Bedi, his partner, and landed a $20m Trump contract to supply masks to two fed agencies.
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Cardiff is now in a California court after he and Bedi each netted $420k from their deal; he's got another deal pending with HHS that will make he and his partner $2m each.
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Cardiff billed the VA $0.68/mask; the same masks sell on Amazon for less than $0.25/each. The Trump admin has helicopter-dropped $6.8b in similar PPE deals since the start of the crisis. 2000+ of the contracts were no-bid.
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Cardiff is quite a fellow, the embodiment of the American dream:
"It’s easy for you to go, ‘Oh, well, Cardiff is a fraud with the FTC, but we’re delivering masks. No one is absconding with anything." -Cardiff.
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"It’s easy for you to go, ‘Oh, well, Cardiff is a fraud with the FTC, but we’re delivering masks. No one is absconding with anything." -Cardiff.
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"[Cardiff engaged in] false and unsubstantiated claims for dissolvable film strips advertised for smoking cessation, weight loss, and male sexual performance." -FTC
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"In March, Cardiff was found in contempt of court for hiding about a million dollars and funding a lavish lifestyle through an account he had opened in the name of his 90-year-old father."
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"Look, it’s a global pandemic right now. People need PPE." -Cardiff
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