State officials said Friday they were aware of the federal investigation into the pension fund of Jeffrey Barlow’s former company when they signed an $18 million purchase order last month with his company, Jack Rubenstein CT LLC, to procure desperately needed at-home COVID tests as the omicron variant began its surge in Connecticut.
The Glastonbury businessman on the state’s short list of suppliers for N95 masks and at-home COVID tests once admitted to misappropriating more than $1.8 million from his company’s pension fund and then failed to pay off the fine for 12 years, according to federal court records and tax liens.
A Glastonbury businessman supplying the state with N95 masks and at-home COVID tests once admitted to misappropriating more than $1.8 million from his company’s pension fund. Jeffrey Barlow has been investigated by the IRS and the FBI from 2007 until 2019.