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11 December 2017Trademarks

Man who sold $120,000 worth of fake airbags pleads guilty

A Missouri-based man who sold more than $120,000 worth of counterfeit Toyota, Chevrolet and Ford airbags has pleaded guilty to selling the goods online.

Aleksey Illyuk admitted to selling the counterfeit airbags on eBay between January 2015 and August of this year.

According to a statement by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Illyuk received shipments of counterfeit product from China before fraudulently marketing these items as airbags that had been manufactured by the legitimate trademark holder and selling them in the US.

ICE said that Illyuk “never truthfully disclosed to the consumers” that the goods were counterfeit.

He is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years and was ordered to pay the government the $103,000 he had obtained from the proceeds of his scheme.

Illyuk was also ordered to hand over hundreds of airbags and airbag components, including 150 counterfeit Toyota airbags and component parts.

“A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office,” said ICE.

This isn’t the first time that ICE has clamped down on the sale of counterfeit airbags—in May, two brothers were indicted for allegedly operating a counterfeit business.

According to the indictment, the brothers conspired to traffic counterfeit goods by operating a business that sold the fakes out of their home.

At the time, Waldemar Rodriguez, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, Texas, said: “Selling counterfeit life-saving devices, such as airbags and airbag components, is an act of reckless disregard for the safety and well-being of others."

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9 April 2018   A man based in Portland, Oregon has been sentenced to four months in prison for selling counterfeit Nike trainers online.