An Orange County man was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in federal prison after admitting he cheated three companies out of $3 million worth of protective gloves that were promised but never delivered during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the 87-month sentence, Christopher John Badsey, 63, of Lake Forest, was ordered to pay $1.94 million in restitution after pleading guilty to four counts of wire fraud.
In June and July 2020, when personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer were in short supply, Badsey claimed his Irvine-based company, First Defense International Security Services Corp., could provide millions of boxes of nitrile gloves, according to court documents.
Badsey signed contracts to sell gloves to three other companies, according to court documents, and required each to deposit about $1 million before being able to inspect the promised products.
The companies transferred a total of $3.2 million to accounts controlled by Badsey, his company or an anonymous co-conspirator, according to court documents.
But prosecutors say Badsey did not have the necessary gloves and made up elaborate excuses whenever his customers asked about delivery. His false stories included “absurd claims that government agents were blocking access to his warehouse,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
Meanwhile, he used the deposit money to finance expensive purchases, authorities say, including a yacht, a pontoon boat, two Mercedes-Benz cars, two Ford pickup trucks, a recreational vehicle, a tractor, three all-terrain vehicles and fishing equipment.
He has lost all title to the items purchased with the stolen funds, along with $58,923 in cash.
Court documents show that Badsey, who previously pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor firearms charges, including grossly negligent discharge of a firearm, in November 2016, had initially asked for a much lighter sentence: one year and one day, a three-year period of supervised release and a $400 special assessment.
