The city of Houston paid $1.7 million for counterfeit N95 masks earlier this year,KPRC2, a Houston-basedNBCaffiliate reported June 22.
Houston police are investigating the company that sold the masks, Med-Tech Resource, for felony trademark counterfeiting, according to theHouston Chronicle.
The city spent $1.7 million for roughly 900,000 3M N95 masks intended for front-line workers, according toKPRC 2. 3M and the city of Houston determined the masks were counterfeit after they were delivered and the masks were quarantined and never used.
Court records show that federal authorities have seized the funds used to pay for the masks and Houston is asking to get the money back,KPRC 2reported. Homeland Security investigators are involved in the case, though no charges have been filed, according to affidavits and police reports reviewed by theHouston Chronicle.