One Federal Agency Was Suing Him for Fraud. Another Paid His Company Millions for Masks.

In the rush to acquire masks to help contain COVID-19, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services awarded nearly $20 million in contracts to a newly formed California company named VPL Medical LLP, without realizing that its co-owner was apparently Jason Cardiff, whose business activities were under sanction by the Federal Trade Commission in connection with an alleged pyramid scheme involving smoking cessation strips and male sexual enhancement pills.