Vall Iliev, Body Armor Smuggling, Ohio 2023

CLEVELAND – In a shocking case of deception, Vall Iliev, 70, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced to 63 months (5.25 years) in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Donald C. Nugent after he pleaded guilty in March to smuggling foreign-made body armor and selling it to law enforcement agencies and the public as legitimate, domestically-made certified products.

Iliev was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay approximately $5.2 million in restitution. This staggering amount highlights the severity of his crimes and the financial losses inflicted upon the public.

According to court documents and testimony, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Blaine, Washington port of entry intercepted a Canadian-registered truck carrying more than 200 ballistic body armor plates from China in May 2023. The plates were hidden using a technique called ‘Master Carton Smuggling’ to evade detection.

Vallmar Studios, Iliev’s warehouse, processed the armor before selling it to law enforcement agencies and the general public through the ShotStop website. The company advertised the products as American-made and marked them with labels claiming NIJ certification, a designation reserved for manufacturers within the United States.

Inspectors found that none of the items from the Chinese manufacturers qualified for NIJ certification, and that the labels were affixed after arrival in the US. Iliev’s company claimed the products were made in Stow, Ohio, but investigators discovered that neither Vallmar Studios nor ShotStop facilities were equipped to manufacture body armor.

This case was 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.

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