Texas Man Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Sell $317 Million Bogus Masks to Australian State

N-95 face masks lie on a table at an office in Washington, on Feb. 26, 2020. Eva Hambach/AFP via Getty Images

A Texas man has pleaded guilty to involvement in a scheme to fraudulently sell 50 million N95 respirator masks he did not have for $317.6 million to the government of New South Wales in Australia, U.S. prosecutors said.

Arael Doolittle entered his plea to a wire fraud conspiracy charge on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston.