Ohio man charged with allegedly smuggling body armor from China to sell to law enforcement customers as American made

Vall Iliev, 69, of Stow, Ohio, has been charged in a three-count information with smuggling foreign-made body armor and then selling it to law enforcement agencies and others, as legitimate, domestically-made certified products.

From around 2017 to October 2023, the defendant allegedly imported body armor from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and sold it under claims of being made in the United States and bearing a falsified trademarked label. Body armor is commonly used by those in law enforcement and other agencies for protection from ballistic threats to the torso area.

According to court documents, in May 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Blaine, Washington port of entry (POE) intercepted a Canadian-registered truck found to be carrying more than 200 ballistic body armor plates in boxes marked with the PRC as the origin. Cargo inspectors were unable to determine the manufacturer’s name. The plates were concealed in pre-packaged boxes within a larger shipping container which is a technique known as “Master Carton Smuggling” and typically used in attempts to evade detection by POE officials.

The hidden boxes of the unmanifested cargo were allegedly pre-labeled and addressed to a business in Stow, Vallmar Studios, which Iliev allegedly owned and operated. Investigators found that Vallmar’s business location was allegedly used as a warehouse to process the PRC-manufactured body armor before selling to the public through a second business, ShotStop Ballistics, which Iliev also allegedly owned and operated in Stow.

ShotStop Ballistics conducted business through its website and sold body armor to the public and law enforcement agencies across the country. The company marketed their Level III and Level IV body armor as “Made in Stow, Ohio” and “NIJ Certified.”

The National Institute of Justice, or NIJ, is the research, development, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which has published performance standards for ballistic-resistant police body armor for more than 50 years. It utilizes a standard process by which rounds of ammunition are fired at a distance to certify body armor along a range of established threat levels. Manufacturers and distributors are permitted to use the NIJ trademarked symbol that indicates that the product meets its established standards for protection.

However, inspectors who examined the intercepted body armor originating from the PRC, found that none of the items were shipped with related documentation that stated that the product met standards for NIJ certification. The seized ballistic plates were sent to Oregon Ballistic Laboratories for testing, which is one of five approved NIJ certified facilities in the United States. The final test results report from the laboratory showed that the panels failed to meet NIJ standards for Level III certification. Test failure for Level III indicates that the same plates would not have passed the more rigorous testing required for Level IV.

Throughout the course of the years-long conspiracy, Iliev allegedly worked with a PRC broker company to find inexpensive manufacturers to make Level III and Level IV body armor. Once orders were placed, manufacturers were directed to ship the items to the defendant’s Vallmar business. When the PRC shipments arrived at the Summit County business, the defendant instructed employees to affix labels to the body armor plates stating “NIJ Certified” and “Made in Stow, Ohio” before going on sale to the public, to law enforcement departments, and to other agencies that rely on ballistic-resistant body armor for protection.

Investigators found thousands of Chinese-produced body armor plates at Vallmar and ShotStop, which served as warehouses to receive, but had no means of producing, Level III or Level IV body armor. The ShotStop location housed a laser printer which was used to print the fake DOJ certification labels that Iliev’s employees were instructed to place on the sub-standard body armor before selling and shipping to customers.

Investigators also found marketing videos produced by Iliev which he used to advertise the body armor products he sold with claims of being manufactured in Ohio and certified by the NIJ. The NIJ certification labels included fictitious “patent pending” on some products such as “Level III+” and “Level IV+HD” certified, which are non-existent designations.

Although Iliev’s companies initially obtained and held valid NIJ certifications, he never sought to confirm through NIJ-certified testing that the body armor quality he imported through co-conspiring Chinese business associates met NIJ performance standards for ballistic resistance. These standards are crucial for buyers to make informed purchases about a product’s safety levels.

These charges are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial. It will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to the case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, their role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum, and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cleveland Office alongside the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Duncan T. Brown for the Northern District of Ohio.

If you have purchased ShotStop Ballistics body armor from 2018 onward, for product safety reasons, HSI recommends discontinuing use. For those who purchased items in question from ShotStop Ballistics, please email a copy of your invoice to faultyarmor@hsi.dhs.gov with “ShotStop Invoice” in the subject line no later than Monday, April 7.

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