The makers of the “Invisible Mask” — which New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda touted as a shield against COVID-19 in the weeks before Mayor Eric Adams brought him into the istration — have agreed to a $150,000 settlement following a Federal Trade Commission complaint that charged them with making a host of “deceptive claims.”

Gary Kong, a Queens businessperson who goes by the honorific “Sir,” and two firms he runs with a partner, were hit in September with a three-count complaint by the FTC in Brooklyn Federal Court over their marketing of the product as protection against COVID-19, according to court papers. 

The complaint was filed in the months following a June 2 report in THE CITY on the dubious claims that were being made about the product, including by Miranda, who in May 2022 was appointed to the $213,000-a-year law enforcement job by Adams.

A settlement reached in late October with Kong and his firms bars them from marketing the product’s unproven medical benefits or falsely citing any federal approval. 

The complaint states that an FDA certificate of registration posted on one of the manufacturing firm’s websites “is fake.”

The filing in New York’s Eastern District also says the makers of the product took in gross revenues of “at least” $100,000 since they began peddling the device online at $29.99 a pop in the spring of 2020, shortly after the virus began ravaging the city.

Marketing materials say the “invisible mask,” which resembles a conference badge that can be worn around the neck or pinned to a lapel, contains a pouch of ions that collide to create a three-foot gas barrier of protection that lasts for up to 30 days. 

The product goes by the name “invisible mask” because it’s supposed to be a replacement for a facial mask.

A firm Miranda operates was listed as “master distributor” of the product on a now-defunct website, and he touted the product in several social media posts at the time — a number of which were taken down following THE CITY’s reporting.

He and his wife sported the device on their lapels in April 2022 at an event honoring Kong — a donor to Adams’ 2021 campaign — that was attended by the mayor.

Photos from that event, which took place while masks were still required on public transportation in New York City following the COVID-connected deaths of more than 40,000 residents here  — also show Kong and the mayor’s director of Asian affairs, Winnie Greco, wearing the “invisible mask.”

The FTC legal filing makes no mention of Miranda, whom Adams named as sheriff in May 2022. Miranda has previously said through the Department of Finance, which operates the sheriff’s office, that his “limited involvement with this product” ended before ing the istration. 

A message left with Miranda last week wasn’t returned, as was a message left at the office of an attorney for Kong and the two firms.

The FTC complaint is still pending against Timothy Wetzel, Kong’s Las Vegas-based partner.

FTC spokesperson Mitchell Katch declined to comment when asked whether Miranda was ed about his involvement with the device. He noted that the $150,000 penalty has been paid.

In a statement posted online shortly after the settlement was reached, Samuel Levine, the director of the commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “The defendants’ claims that their products can stand in for approved COVID-19 vaccines are bogus.” 

From Buster to Busted

Within months of setting up shop, the defendants were issued a warning by the FTC, in July 2020, that some of their marketing language was in potential violation of federal rules.

The 21-page filing  says Wetzel acknowledged receipt of the warning at the time and promised to remove the unsubstantiated claims posted online.

Still, according to the complaint, the firms continued to a litany of “deceptive” claims about the device, which also goes by the name “1 Virus Buster.”

Those include that it “offers three feet of protection from airborne viruses including COVID 19.”

The complaint also takes aim at the supposed lab testing and science that the firms cited on their websites, including a case study of 598 volunteers that, according to the FTC, wasn’t randomized, placebo-controlled or conducted by qualified people.

“Defendants do not possess competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate their claims that the Invisible Mask can prevent COVID-19,” the filing reads.

Among the uned claims of government approval for the Virus Buster were references to “FDA approval,” use of “EPA-approved” materials, and a “USA Patent Pending,” according to the complaint.

The complaint notes that the FDA doesn’t issue certificates of registration like the one posted online to manufacturers of medical devices. 

But one of the sites mentioned in the complaint, https://kwtechnologynv.com, on Tuesday still displayed the bogus FDA registration certificate.

The site also appeared to lack a link to the FTC settlement and a required disclaimer to alert visitors about payment of the $150,000 penalty “to settle an FTC lawsuit that alleged we made deceptive claims about the 1 Virus Buster Invisible Mask.”