The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Michael Caridi, a Connecticut resident found to have defrauded a Quebec hospital network by selling it millions of dollars worth of substandard masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, has agreed to pay $1.08-million (U.S.) as part of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Globe's Alexandra Posadzki writes that Mr. Caridi, a previously convicted fraudster, is also permanently banned from participating in penny stocks, and barred from serving as an officer and director of a public company for seven years. The settlement follows a ruling from an Ontario court last summer, which found Mr. Caridi personally liable for deceiving the Quebec City hospital network, a group of five hospitals commonly known as CHU, in March, 2020. The hospital network had ordered three million N95 masks from Mr. Caridi's company, Tree of Knowledge International, agreeing to pay $13.7-million (U.S.). The masks were supposed to be certified by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Instead, the hospitals received boxes of KN95 masks that were labelled as "Not for medical use," according to the July 9 ruling from the Ontario Superior Court.