Online electronic goods retailer Coolblue is taking legal action against three young entrepreneurs who became millionaires selling face masks to the government.

The company is demanding €500,000 in compensation from Sywert van Lienden and his colleagues Bernd Damme and Camille van Gestel, the Volkskrant said on Wednesday.

Coolblue says the trio dishonestly claimed they were running a non-profit company when they asked for help with their webshop and order processing.

However, it later transpired that the deal was done via a limited company, netting the three a combined profit of €20 million.

Staffing agency Randstad is already suing the trio for €150,000 after supplying several workers free of charge to the operation.

‘If Coolblue had known they were trading commercially, the alliance would never have happened,’ lawyer Sabine Pijl told the paper.

In February, the public prosecution department launched a criminal investigation into the affair.