Summary

On September 30, 2013, Igor Borodin, owner of Krugger Auto, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Charlotte, North Carolina, to serve 84 months in jail for causing the criminal transportation of hazardous materials and importing counterfeit goods.   Upon release from jail, Borodin will be placed under supervised release for two years, subject to removal/deportation to Russia.  He was also ordered to pay $26,844 in restitution, $60,000 in cash, and to forfeit his home valued at over $200,000.

Borodin was charged for his role in the trafficking of counterfeit airbags and the illegal shipment of undeclared hazardous materials in air commerce.  The airbag systems are designed with an incendiary detonator.  During testing of the counterfeit airbags by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it was established that the airbags are volatile systems in that they are capable of not deploying at all, expending shrapnel and causing a fire, or both, when detonated.

We investigated this case jointly with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles, Highway Patrol.