A Lake Forest, California man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for defrauding companies out of over $3 million for medical-grade gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christopher John Badsey, 63, was sentenced to 87 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2 million in restitution. Badsey pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud in April 2023.

In mid-2020, Badsey falsely claimed to have access to millions of boxes of nitrile gloves through his company, First Defense International Security Services Corp. (FDI). He specifically targeted companies looking to purchase COVID-related medical protective equipment, knowing that nitrile gloves were in high demand and short supply.

Badsey entered into contracts with three companies to sell them millions of boxes of gloves. However, he required the companies to pay large deposits before they could inspect the gloves. Badsey falsely claimed that the gloves were stored in a Los Angeles warehouse and that the companies needed to pay deposits of over $1 million to FDI.

In reality, Badsey did not have any gloves stored in a warehouse. He instructed the companies to wire the deposits to accounts controlled by himself, FDI, or a co-schemer. The companies ultimately wired a total of $3,231,990 to these accounts.

Prosecutors argued that Badsey used the deposit money to make expensive purchases, while continuing to deceive the companies with false claims. He even went so far as to claim that government agents were blocking access to his supposed warehouse of gloves.

In addition to his prison sentence, Badsey has forfeited a number of assets, including a yacht, two Mercedes-Benz vehicles, and a pontoon boat.

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office.