‘We are dealing with over 2,000 complaints related to price gouging': New York Attorney General

New York Attorney General Letitia James joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to discuss how New York is handling the escalation of the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: As you know, New York state leads the front, you might say, in the war on coronavirus. And one of the people, the woman who is leading the charge to protect people in New York state from price gouging and other law breaking is the Attorney General Leticia James. And she is joining us now on Yahoo Finance with so much to discuss, for instance, the number of reports of price gouging and how your office is cracking down on that. Can you bring us up to speed?

LETITIA JAMES: So first, let me thank you-- thank you for allowing me to be on the show. And let me just report to your audience that, as of this morning, 68,363 total cases in New York state, over 1,342 deaths. And in New York City, 38,000 cases and 914 deaths related to coronavirus. So we are the epicenter. And I thank you so much.

And it's because of the anxiety and fear that we are seeing on the streets of New York state that you've got some lowlifes, some scammers, some criminals who are taking advantage of all of this fear. And as of this moment in our office, we are dealing with over 2,000 complaints related to price gouging, price gouging related to health-- health care, the health care industry, as well as to essential products as-- essential products that we desperately need. And so it's really critically important that anyone in New York state that has any complaint related to price gouging that we reach out to our office.

In addition to that, we've been seeing medical scams. We've been seeing individuals sell products which they allege can-- can cure the coronavirus. We've seen individuals like Wayne Allyn Root advertise products on his Newsmax TV, and Alex Jones-- Alex Jones marketing and selling toothpaste, which basically says that that can cure coronavirus.

We've seen Jim Bakker sell Silver Solution products through his TV show. Dr. Sherrill Sellman, on her website, again, she claims that she's got products that can kill the virus. We've seen the Silver Edge Company market and sell a device that they, too, says beats-- beats coronavirus.

We've seen countless number of individuals, and we are beginning now to see scams related to the stimulus package that was recently passed and signed-- passed by Congress and signed by the president. We are having individuals target the military in upstate New York, go door-to-door, ask for their information, indicating that they've got their stimulus check. We've seen phishing scams all on-- online.

And we have reached out to a number of tech companies and online platforms, working with them to remove their posts. And so our office has been very, very busy. And then lastly, we've received a number of complaints, around 5,000 complaints, from employees and employers basically trying to get some sort of clarification on executive orders as it relates to who is essential and who is nonessential in the state of New York.

ALEXIS KEENAN: AG James, this is Alexis Keenan here. I want to talk to you a little bit more about the price gouging. I'm hearing that your office, you know, started initially hearing about claims related to hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and those types of essential items. But I'm told that now it's escalating and now that food might also be a concern in this area. Can you talk to us about that?

LETITIA JAMES: Sure. We've seen bottles of hand sanitizers being sold for $80, in some cases $100. We've seen price gouging of toilet paper and, you know, basic essentials, as you mentioned. We've got investigators on the ground all throughout the state of New York. And again, individuals can reach out to our office to report any types of complaints.

We have also issued more than 800 cease and desist notices to businesses for price gouging. We have yet to go to court to seek any temporary restraining orders, but we are prepared to do that in the event that the business does not cooperate with our office. Individuals can contact our office by emailing us at ag.ny.gov/coronavirus, or they can just go onto our regular website and tag us.

JULIE HYMAN: Attorney General, Julie Hyman here. Thank you very much for joining us. I want to ask about the Amazon situation on Staten Island--

LETITIA JAMES: Yes.

JULIE HYMAN: --where a number of workers were striking there. And now apparently one of the leaders of that effort has been let go from the company. Now, Amazon said in a statement that he was not complying with the company's regulations and safety protocols around coronavirus. He has pushed back against that saying it's not so. What is your office doing, at this point, to look into that matter?

LETITIA JAMES: So let me just say, prior to the action that was taken by employees at Amazon on Staten Island, there was a young woman who was working at Amazon who tested positive. And she was not allowed sick leave. In fact, she had to take off unpaid sick leave in order to get tested, and she has tested positive.

And it's as a result of her diagnosis that a number of individuals decided to protest the lack of protective measures for workers. One of the gentlemen who was involved, his name is Chris Smalls, he's an employee at their warehouse. And basically what they were trying to do was just alert individuals and inform individuals with regards to the fact-- and management in particular-- in regards to the lack of PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, and protocols in place to keep all of them safe.

It was, again, in response to the young lady who, unfortunately, tested positive. And it's really unfortunate that Amazon would terminate an employee who bravely stood up to protect himself and his colleagues. And so we issued a statement. And we, again, are currently-- my office is considering their legal options. And we are also calling upon the National Labor Relations Board to investigate this incident to stand up, again, for employees who wanted to organize and to stand against an employer, management, who basically wanted to seek retaliation.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Letitia James is the attorney general from the great state of New York. We appreciate your being here.