Fans of the popular show “Shark Tank” are in shock today after it was reported that Daymond John is one of the people who allegedly tried to sell the state of Florida N95 masks at an inflated price amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Like many states, Florida has faced a shortage of medical gear throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and the state has been particularly desperate to obtain masks. After calling the hunt for N95 masks “shady as Hell,” Gov. Ron DeSantis went about taking steps to allow the state’s Division of Emergency Management to broker private deals to obtain more medical equipment.

The Miami Herald reported that John, who stars on “Shark Tank” and is the CEO of the Shark Group, approached state officials last month saying that he could get them one million masks from China at a rate of $7 per mask, a massive increase from the $2 they typically sell for. Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management, was left with no choice but to accept John’s deals, as other deals to get masks were falling apart.

“This was not somebody off the street, this was Daymond John,’’ Moskowitz said. “He came to me and said, ‘I’ve been in the clothing business. I have connections with factories in China.’”

For reasons that have not been disclosed, this deal also fell through on April 13. However, the deal may be about to come back to bite John in a big way, as it is reportedly one of the deals being investigated by 3M, the company that manufactures the N95 masks. 3M has already hired a team of lawyers to look into the fraudulent members selling their masks at inflated prices in the U.S. and Canada, which could land John in hot water.

3M released the following statement to Fox News about the situation:

“3M is not aware of how the Shark Group would gain access to our respirators as it is not an authorized distributor of 3M products or one of our channel partners. 3M list prices, which are published on our website, are far lower than what appears to have been offered to the State of Florida.”

“3M is filing lawsuits in cases where third parties use the company’s name, brand or trademark to engage in price gouging of N95 respirators and other illegal and unethical behavior. We have no knowledge of whether that occurred in this situation. We are happy, though, to assist law enforcement authorities if they wish to look into this matter.”

John and the Shark Group have yet to respond to these allegations.

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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