NY man gets two years for selling fake car parts

A man who put lives at risk by selling fake airbags has been jailed for two years by a US District judge.

Raymond Whelan (49) of Cheektowaga, New York – who operated online automobile parts store Rayscarparts71.com on eBay – has been convicted of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, charges that could have results in a sentence of up to 10 years and a $2m fine.

Prosecutors say that between June 2015 and March 2016, Whelan and co-defendant David Nichols entered into an agreement to sell fake airbags claiming to be genuine Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Hyundai, Acura, and Mitsubishi parts.

Testing of the counterfeits revealed that they did not meet specifications, over- or under-inflating, and far from being potentially life-saving were hazardous.

Nichols – who has also been convicted for his part in the scam and is awaiting sentencing – would then locate manufacturers in China to supply the requested airbags. Whelan imported and sold more approximately 360 counterfeit automobile airbags with an average manufacturer’s retail price of $650.00, which would be equivalent to a total value of $236,600.