One federal governmental agency paid $12.74 for each N95 masks. That would be FEMA’s (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) contract. The retail rate is normally $1.25. California ordered from 3M two million respirator masks at $7.25 per mask. Then, 3M canceled the order, because it could not fulfill it.
As of Thursday afternoon, 62,603 Americans have died from coronavirus and state and local government have been desperate for supplies. New York City put in a rush order for $214.7 million for protective medical equipment. Only 17 million of them, eight percent, have arrived.
Yaron Oren-Pines has been a Twitter mate of Donald Trump since 2011 and volunteered to put up a sign in 2016. Recently, he tweeted Trump that he had “a handful: coronavirus-related supplies. He also hinted at an “interesting conspiracy theory” where China might have profited from this pandemic.
Then just a week later, he responded to Trump’s Twitter call for ventilators. The engineer’s actual tweet went via an Israeli entrepreneur Sergev Binyamin’s account. Oren-Pines is one of his follows. Binyamin tweeted that he just happened to have the exact number of machines that Trump needed — 1,400, according to Buzzfeed’s investigative exclusive:
‘I own a Chinese company and have the ability to ship 1,400 machines.’
That happens to be almost the exact number of ventilators Oren-Pines contracted with New York state to sell. Senior advisor to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, said:
‘We had no choice but to overturn every rock to find ventilators and other needed equipment. States were forced to fend for themselves to purchase lifesaving supplies to combat a global pandemic and with all modeling showing a more severe spread of this virus with more hospitalizations and more fatalities.’
A New York official said he did not know whether Oren-Pines received a federal contract. According to federal records, there was no such transaction:
‘The guy was recommended to us by the White House coronavirus task force because they were doing business with him as well. I think everyone was genuinely trying to help each other out and get supplies.’
Oren-Pines knew mobile phone technology and only had 75 followers on Twitter. He did not appear to have any experience with medical devices or government contracting, either but his tweet paid off. He wrote:
‘We can supply ICU Ventilators, invasive and noninvasive. Have someone call me URGENT.’
New York state called him back after his tweet. Three days later he had $69.1 million in his checking account. The state was so desperate that it bent its own accounting rules to purchase for 1,450 ventilators.
A White House spokesperson referred Buzzfeed’s investigative journalists to Vice President Mike Pence, because he was over the task force. The VP’s office sent the reporter to FEMA. The FEBA office said it could not speak for the White House or release the names of potential suppliers.
VP Spokesperson Katie Miller released a statement that read:
‘The White House Coronavirus Task Force was never informed of this contract and was not involved in it at all.’
THE Israeli immigrant from the University of Maryland Oren-Pines has been in Silicon Valley for the past two decades dealing with several different technical applications. When he was doing a stint at Google, his supervisor was Mike Ritter.
Ritter was not aware of Oren-Pines’ contract, but he was aware his friend had a ventilator supplier in Asia:
‘He’s always a go-getter. Anytime there’s opportunity, he’s always been out there trying to help and make a buck.’
Pence toured a GE Healthcare manufacturing plant located in Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday, and this time he wore a mask. When he went to the famous Mayo Clinic earlier this week, he refused to wear a mask, perhaps mimicking Donald Trump who has not worn one either. The criticism that Pence received may have been the source of his change of behavior at the GE plant.
Oren Pine co-founded a networking solutions organization Legasus Networks. Another founder and CEO Doug Lee said the company:
‘[Has] nothing to do with medical or ventilators. We don’t have any products right now.
Oren-Pines bid each ventilator at $47,600. Another company bought “top-of-the-line ventilators for $15,000,” Azzopardi said:
‘We selected our contracts based on the best value under market conditions that were literally changing every day.’
Some bid for $75,666 each. New York recovered the $56 million it paid Trinity Partners LLC. for a medical contact.
Other state and government agencies also tried to get needed supplies, but it was New York that was most successful. Governor Cuomo said:
‘I need 30,000 ventilators. How can you have New Yorkers possibly dying because they can’t get a ventilator?’
New York also ordered:
‘5,700 ventilators, according to a report by the Albany Times-Union, but the devices were never delivered…Two payments totaling $32.3 million, meanwhile, went to a Tampa company, Premier Orthopedic Solutions, which specializes in selling devices used for rehabilitation from joint surgery. The owner, Carl Bax, played offensive line for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, but in 1990 was arrested before his second season after receiving a shipment of steroids. He pleaded guilty and his football career ended after nine more games.’
Governor Cuomo’s vetting team started on COVID-19-related contracts: Only 10 percent of the vendors have been approved thus far.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
