Attorney General Dave Yost sues ShotStop Ballistic for selling smuggled body armor to police
[Watch in the player above: Fake body armor was sold to Akron Police Department's SWAT team.]
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) — A Stow man who sold counterfeit body armor smuggled from China to law enforcement agencies, passing it off as locally made, is now being targeted by the state's top lawman.
Attorney General Dave Yost has sued Vall Iliev, his company and an affiliate for violations of the Consumer Sales Practices Act, according to a Wednesday news release.
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'Armor is meant to save lives, not sell lies,' Yost is quoted in the release. 'Consumers deserve to know that this type of equipment is going to provide the protection promised.'
Iliev's business, Stow-based ShotStop Ballistics, marketed and sold body armor claimed to have been made in-house by Ilev's affiliate, Vallmar Studios, and certified by the National Institute of Justice for safety standards.
But a federal and state investigation found the Chinese-made armor was falsely labeled, and that it 'did not meet safety standards necessary to protect users,' reads the release.
Testing performed at a ballistics laboratory found the plates failed to meet the standard that was advertised, federal prosecutors said in a previous news release.
Prosecutors said Iliev spent years working with a Chinese broker to find cheaply made body armor, which was shipped to Vallmar Studios. There, employees were told to put made-in-America and testing certification stickers on the goods.
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Iliev pleaded guilty in March to conspiracies to smuggle and traffic in counterfeit goods and to commit mail and wire fraud in Ohio's Northern District federal court. He remains free on a $20,000 unsecured bond and is due for sentencing on July 8, court records show.
Yost's new lawsuit seeks restitution for those who bought the defective armor. The business went bankrupt in 2023 and its were assets seized by the government, meaning a full account of customers' losses will take more investigation, according to the release.
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