Fraud on Covid masks during lockdown, two convictions in Bari

Two convictions and three acquittals for the fraud on covid masks during the lockdown. The Court of Bari sentenced the entrepreneurs Gaetano and Vito Davide Canosino, legal representatives of the companies 3MC and Penta srl, to one year and six months of imprisonment (suspended sentence), for speculative maneuvers on goods, in relation to the price increases applied – towards the local health authorities from Puglia – in the supply of Ffp2 and Ffp3 masks during the lockdown period due to the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020. Their companies, according to the accusation, would have applied a price increase of between 92 and 4000% on protective devices supplied to local health authorities. The entrepreneurs will also have to pay a fine of 10 thousand euros and have been banned from carrying out an activity for which special permits or authorizations are required.

The acquittals

The Canosinos, assisted by lawyers Angelo Loizzi and Michele Laforgia, were acquitted “because the fact does not exist” of having carried out speculative maneuvers causing the masks to become rarefied and removing large quantities from consumption. The entrepreneur Elio Rubino (Aesse Hospital srl, defended by the lawyer Fabio De Feo) was acquitted “because the fact does not constitute a crime” of the crime of speculative maneuvers on goods, while Romario Matteo Fumagalli (Sterimed, assisted by the lawyer Ennio Amodio) and Massimiliano Aniello De Marco (Hospital Services, defended by the lawyer Angelo Nanni) were acquitted “because the fact does not exist” from the hypotheses of speculative maneuvers on goods, attempted aggravated fraud and fraud in public supplies. The Bari Prosecutor’s Office had requested five sentences ranging from one year to six months and two years in prison.

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