By Hank Russell
A Farmingdale distributor of flavored e-cigarettes, or “vapes,” is being sued by the City of New York for illegally selling their products online. The lawsuit was filed at U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
In the lawsuit, Prince Point Inc. is alleged to have violated state law by selling these products over the Internet. The city is seeking “injunctive and other equitable relief, damages and statutory penalties arising out of illegal internet sales of electronic nicotine delivery devices.”
Also named in the lawsuit are company president Weis Khwaja, corporate secretary Hamza Jalili and John Does 1-5.
As part of the city’s investigation, their investigators made 20 separate purchases from Price Point’s website. The packages were delivered without requests for signatures or age verification. Further, the contents were not identified as e-cigarettes, in violation of the PACT (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking) Act and New York State Public Health Law.
An investigator bought an e-cigarette labeled “Sales Only for Latin America” with a QR code linked to the Geek Bar website. “Despite a statement on the website that ‘we are fully committed to meeting all of our legal and regulatory requirements,’ additional website statements concede that Geek Bar ecigarettes [sic] are not authorized by the FDA for sale in the United States,” the lawsuit stated.
On October 2, an investigator attempted to order another Geek Bar e-cigarette but received an email stating the order was canceled “at your request” and was issued a refund, even though the investigator never canceled the order. When the investigator called Price Point, they were told “your account has been cancelled.”
“Upon inquiring for the reason for the cancellation, the individual terminated the conversation without explanation,” the lawsuit stated.
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to Price Point. The company had no comment.
“Part of protecting public safety means protecting the health of New Yorkers, including our most vulnerable – our children, who are more susceptible to nicotine addiction, especially when products are flavored to make the taste less harsh,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “Protecting young New Yorkers means stubbing out illegal vape and e-cigarette sales that target them. Today’s lawsuit alleges that Price Point Distributors knew it was breaking laws by selling flavored cigarettes to New Yorkers, and even took measures to conceal these illegal sales from federal, state, and local authorities. This lawsuit, as well as our continued efforts to shut down illegal smoke shops, go hand-in-hand with the work our administration is doing to bring down overall crime in our city.”
New York City Acting Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant added, “By selling disposable vapes with kid-friendly flavors – such as cotton candy, raspberry watermelon, and cherry cola – defendants are putting profit before the wellbeing of young people. Flouting the law and fueling an epidemic of nicotine addiction among middle and high school students will not be tolerated by the City of New York.”