Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC) and former ATF official Richard Marianos are rebuking the China-linked Vapor Technology Association, which sought backing from the Trump administration, after a New York probe tied one of its board members to over 28,000 pounds of illicit vapes worth more than $2.5 million.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced on March 19 that authorities in Nassau and Orange counties seized more than 28,000 pounds of illicit vapor products linked to Ecto World, a Buffalo-area distributor also known as Demand Vape, after what the state described as a three-month investigation by the Department of Health’s Bureau of Investigations into wholesale vape distribution across New York.
According to the governor’s announcement, investigators concluded that Ecto World had been illegally shipping large quantities of vape products to sub-distributors and unlicensed retail shops across the state, including major shipments to Long Island and Orange County that were intercepted during the operation. The state said those sub-distributors and unlicensed retailers fall outside the narrow classes of businesses to which distributors may legally ship vapor products in New York.
Hochul said criminal charges against Ecto World and its owner will be pursued through the Nassau and Orange County district attorneys’ offices.
The retail value of the products seized has been estimated at between about $2.2 million and $3.5 million.
Ecto World LLC, which does business as Demand Vape, and its affiliate Magellan Technology Inc. are owned and run by Jon Glauser, a board member of the Vapor Technology Association, which has publicly urged the Trump administration to preserve the flavored-vape industry even as it intensifies its crackdown on illegal Chinese-made vapes.
Glauser has been publicly tied to Demand Vape and Magellan Technology Inc. in federal complaints and media interviews. In a 2023 federal complaint filed by the City of New York, Magellan was described as a “middleman” and “master distributor” for China-based manufacturers.
In separate coverage on how Chinese vape products entered the United States while evading customs scrutiny and taxes, Forbes reported that “Jon Glauser of Demand Vape told a federal judge his company had sold more than $132 million worth of Elf Bar products last year.” According to the outlet, Glauser said, “We were selling it faster than we could get it in,” and attributed Elf Bar’s rise to its profit margin, saying sellers made roughly 30 percent.
Fox News Digital reported that the Electronic Cigarette Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, or ECCC, partners with the Vapor Technology Association led by Tony Abboud, and that the ECCC was established in Shenzhen, China, in January 2017 and operates under the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, which is registered with the CCP’s Ministry of Civil Affairs. Fox further reported that some of the top leaders of the CECC are former high-ranking CCP officials, including a former member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a former vice premier, and a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal Chinese-made vapes intensified in September when U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration announced what they described as the largest illegal vape seizure in American history. A few weeks later, the DEA launched Operation Vape Trail, a multi-agency effort involving DOJ, DHS, HHS, and FDA. DEA said the initiative had seized more than 2.3 million vape devices and cartridges and more than 100 weapons since September 15, 2025.
The broader crackdown has support from both elected officials and voters. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in September that, “the Chinese are getting richer while our children get sicker, and we’re putting an end to that,” as federal agents carried out nationwide raids targeting Chinese-made vapes. Meanwhile, 71 Republican members of Congress told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that illegal Chinese e-cigarettes pose a national security threat, according to the Washington Reporter. Breitbart News also reported that an October 2025 Fabrizio Ward poll found 80 percent of swing-district voters support seizing illegal Chinese-made vapes and prosecuting those who smuggle them.
Knott told Breitbart News exclusively, “The Chinese Communist Party has carried out an elaborate effort to skirt trade barriers and flood the U.S. market with dangerous counterfeit vape products. This is not a secret. This is known. For too many, it is unfortunately an accepted means to undercut legitimate and authentic products so a quick profit can be had through selling counterfeit goods. This harms American businesses, American farmers, and American children. Personally, I refuse to meet with any representatives of groups wrapped up in this scheme, including the Vapor Technology Association, and I urge my colleagues in Congress to do the same.”
The wider enforcement picture is reflected in data published by the Tobacco Law Enforcement Network, or TLEN, whose executive director, Richard Marianos, previously served more than 27 years with ATF. As of 11:18:07 a.m. on March 30, 2026, TLEN’s automatically updating “Black Market Brief” live desk listed at least $142,635,580 in product value seized since January 2025, more than 9,149,874 illegal vapes seized, more than $10,864,051.50 in cash, and at least 510 arrests, while tracking national coverage and headlines from over 30 states.
TLEN’s briefing says illicit Chinese vape products account for an estimated 86 percent of the U.S. market, with 216 million illicit units exported from China to the United States in 2024 alone. The group also says the top ten manufacturers account for 40 percent of illicit shipments.
Marianos told Breitbart News that the New York seizure was “very important in terms of disrupting and breaking the back of Chinese organized crime who’s manufacturing these products and pushing them out to these warehouses, these wholesalers,” before they ultimately end up “in the hands of our children.”
He said the cases are rarely isolated. “A lot of them” are tied to broader trafficking networks involving “narcotics, trade based money laundering, possession of guns and selling guns, wanted offenders,” Marianos said. “Some of these vape shops have become almost licensed crack houses in the United States.”
Marianos stated there is “a difference between those that play by the rules and those that disregard the law and the rules and are lobbying to stay open,” contending that such efforts “hurt the marketplace for those good retailers.” He added that “those that are lobbying for these shops to stay open have efforts that are inconsistent with what the truth is out there. If you want to be in compliance, sell the legal products. Don’t be lobbying that all these vape shops are appropriate.”
Marianos concluded, “The correct message is, sell the products that the FDA has deemed a registered product for tobacco harm reduction and don’t support criminal activity and sell illegal products.”
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