A con man who ran what the FBI called “the largest Ponzi scheme ever prosecuted in western New York”, and then tried to sell the federal government nonexistent COVID-19 masks during the pandemic, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“I think you are a con man, the biggest con man I have ever had to deal with in this court,” U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci Jr. told Christopher Parris, 42, at his sentencing on December 19.
Parris was convicted of defrauding over 1,000 victims who invested over $100 million as part of the scheme which involved a string of fake companies and non-existent investment opportunities.
In January 2020, after his network of phony investment businesses collapsed, Parris was arrested and charged with mail fraud and money laundering.
While he was out on pretrial release in the Ponzi scheme case, Parris embarked on another audacious scheme to defraud the federal government in a COVID-19 protective equipment scam.
As the COVID pandemic wracked the United States in early 2020 and thousands of Americans were sick and dying, Parris offered to sell scarce personal protective equipment (PPE), including 3M-brand N95 respirator masks, to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other government, state and medical entities.
In April 2020, Parris called a person he thought was a VA employee and said his company, Encore Health Group, acquired and produced PPE and ventilators, and could produce them in one to two weeks, according to court records viewed…
