Man Sentenced to More Than Seven Years in Prison for Defrauding Buyers of Medical-Grade Gloves During COVID

An Orange County man was sentenced on Friday to seven years and three months in federal prison for defrauding companies that paid over $3 million in mid-2020 for COVID-19 protective medical equipment that was never delivered.

Christopher John Badsey, 63, of Lake Forest, received the sentence from United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton, who also ordered him to pay $1,938,990 in restitution.

Badsey pleaded guilty in April 2023 to four counts of wire fraud.

In June and July of 2020, Badsey deceived three companies by falsely claiming he had access to millions of boxes of nitrile gloves through his Irvine-based business, First Defense International Security Services Corp. (FDI).

This type of personal protective equipment was in high demand and scarce during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Badsey entered into contracts to sell millions of boxes of gloves to each of the three companies. However, he misled company representatives by claiming that before inspecting the gloves, purportedly stored in a Los Angeles warehouse, they needed to pay deposits of over $1 million to FDI.

In reality, Badsey had no gloves stored in any warehouse.

He instructed the companies to wire the deposits to accounts under his control, including those of FDI or a co-conspirator.

Based on his false assurances, the companies wired a total of $3.2 million to these accounts.

“[Badsey] used the deposit money to make extravagant purchases while stringing along would-be buyers with false stories, including outrageous claims that government agents were blocking access to his warehouse of gloves,” prosecutors stated in a sentencing memorandum.

Badsey has forfeited all assets and interests acquired through his crimes, including a yacht, a pontoon boat, two Mercedes-Benz automobiles, two Ford pickup trucks, an RV, a tractor, three ATVs, various fishing equipment, and $58,923 in cash.

  The FBI investigated this matter.