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Three Chicago Men Charged with Odometer and Title Fraud

JUSTICE NEWS Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, November 3, 2022 A federal grand jury in Chicago, Illinois, returned an indictment, which was unsealed yesterday, charging three Illinois men with operating an odometer and title fraud scheme that involved hundreds of used cars over the course of many years. According to court documents, Laith Ghzo, 36, of Oak Lawn, Hussein Ghzo, 40, of Palos Heights, and Musab Sawai, 35, of Worth caused the mileage of hundreds of used vehicles to be rolled back and altered title documents to reflect the false, low mileage. Those used vehicles were then sold to unsuspecting wholesale buyers and ultimately consumers, who paid more for those vehicles than they would have paid if they had known the truth about the vehicles’ mileages. Laith Ghzo and Hussein Ghzo are charged with conspiracy to make counterfeit securities and commit mail fraud, making counterfeit securities and mail fraud. Musab Sawai is charged with conspiracy to make counterfeit securities and mail fraud. The defendants made their initial court appearances yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. If convicted, Laith Ghzo and Hussein Ghzo face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each mail fraud count, and Musab Sawai faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. for the Northern District of Illinois, Acting Inspector in Charge Kai Pickens of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chicago Division and Acting Administrator Ann Carlson of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration … Continue Reading

Two New Jersey Men Plead Guilty in Pennsylvania in Scheme Involving Odometer Tampering and Title Fraud

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, May 19, 2022 Two New Jersey men have pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for their roles in falsifying vehicle titles as part of a long-running odometer roll-back scheme. According to court documents, Felix Granowski, 58, of Matawan, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Granowski owned a used car dealership based in New Jersey. Today, Alec Morgunov, 34, of Manalapan, also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in connection with his work at Granowski’s dealership. As part of their plea agreements, Granowski and Morgunov admitted that between 2012 and 2016, they engaged in a scheme to sell high-mileage, used vehicles with false, low-mileage readings entered on the vehicles’ odometers and titles. According to court filings, the defendants purchased high-mileage vehicles from individuals, arranged to alter the vehicles’ odometers to reflect false, lower mileage readings, and then obtained motor vehicle titles reflecting those false, lower mileages. Granowski and Morgunov then used the fraudulent title documentation and artificially lower odometer readings to sell the vehicles, including at an auction located in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. By deceiving purchasers into believing the vehicles had fewer miles than they actually had, defendants sold the vehicles at inflated prices, resulting in consumers paying more for the vehicles than they would have paid had they known the true mileages. “When individuals misrepresent the mileage on used cars, they deceive consumers into paying more money for those cars while also hiding vital information that can impact vehicle safety and repair costs,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are committed to protecting consumers by prosecuting … Continue Reading

Three Men Sentenced for Selling Vehicles with Rolled Back Odometers

U.S. Attorneys » Northern District of Iowa » News SHARE Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Iowa FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, May 20, 2022 Three men were sentenced today for selling vehicles on the internet after re-placing the vehicles’ odometers in order to sell the vehicles at a higher price. In an attempt to avoid detection, the vehicles would be registered in several different names and then ultimately sold to the unsuspecting public. The public would not have purchased the vehicles had they known the true mileage on the vehicles. Jerret Schreiber, age 50, from Parkersburg, Iowa, received 6 months prison term and 6 months home confinement after he pled guilty to wire fraud. Evidence in the case proved Schreiber was involved in the sale of at least 17 vehicles. He was ordered to repay $90,832.55 in restitution to the victims of his offense. At sentencing, Schreiber made a payment of $45,000 towards his restitution obligation. David Stangeland, age 33, from Cedar Falls, Iowa, received a one month prison term after he pled guilty to conspiracy to commit odometer fraud. Evidence in the case proved Stangeland was involved in the sale of at least 21 vehicles. He was ordered to repay $85,050 in restitution to the victims of his offense. At sentencing, Stangeland made a payment of $22,400 towards his restitution obligation. Dustin Arends, age 36, from New Hartford, Iowa, received three years’ probation after he pled guilty to odometer tampering. Evidence in the case proved Arends was involved in the sale of at least 6 vehicles. He was ordered to repay $23,200 in restitution to the victims of his offense. At sentencing, Arends made a payment of $14,000 towards his restitution obligation. The three men were sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge … Continue Reading

San Jose trio sentenced in odometer rollback scheme

SAN FRANCISCO – Three San Jose men have been sentenced to prison terms for their roles in a conspiracy to buy high-mileage vehicles, roll back their odometers to make them appear newer and sell them at “significant profits,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston on Friday sentenced 32-year-old Seymur Khalilov to two years in prison and 32-year-old Orkhan Aliyev and 31-year-old Ramil Heydarov to 20 months in prison each, the agency said in a news release Friday. In October, the defendants pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to their plea agreements, the defendants admitted to fraudulently selling at least 78 vehicles with altered odometers for a total of $550,000, prosecutors said. The scheme spanned from at least October 2017 to December 2020, prosecutors said. In one case, Khalilov rolled back the odometer of a vehicle from 35,000 miles to 35 miles, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The defendants also admitted they advertised the vehicles for sale on Craigslist and used doctored driver’s licenses to facilitate the sales, prosecutors said. Aliyev, for example, had multiple licenses with the same photograph but different people’s names. In addition to prison terms, Illston ordered Heydarov and Aliyev to forfeit $379,325 and $196,578, respectively. A date to determine Khalilov’s restitution has not been scheduled. Victims of the scheme will have one year from the date of judgment to seek restitution. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, estimates that odometer fraud in the United States results in consumer loses of more than $1 billion annually. Steps consumers can take to protect themselves include purchasing a vehicle report and comparing the mileage numbers, ensuring the seller’s information matches the information on the title, and not using … Continue Reading

Ford Mustang Among Top 20 Vehicles Subjected To Odometer Fraud

By Brett Foote Automotive theft has grown steadily in recent years, moving to the forefront of vehicle-related problems most of us are concerned about, in addition to distracted drivers and reliability. But there’s another issue that Ford Mustang owners should apparently be worried about as well – odometer fraud. A recent study from Car Vertical found that the Mustang is one of the top 20 “clocked” vehicles across the globe, which means that the odometer has been altered to make it look like a vehicle has less miles than it has actually traveled. In the U.S. alone, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 450,000 vehicles are sold each year with altered odometers, a crime that costs customers around $1 billion annually. Vehicles with lower miles obviously sell for more money than higher-mileage examples, which is what motivates dishonest folks to commit odometer fraud. Car Vertical analyzed over 700,000 used car history reports generated between November 2020 and November 2021 from 18 different counties to come up with its top 20 list of most clocked vehicles, which is dominated by German makes and models. A whopping 33.6 percent of BMW M5 models included in the study had altered odometers, and BMW vehicles make up around half of the top 20 list in total. Meanwhile, the Ford Mustang ranked ninth at 25.9 percent, a still-significant number that should serve as a major warning for anyone looking to purchase a used pony car. According to Car Vertical, the most clocked model years of the Mustang are 2014, 2015, and 2016. Coincidentally, the Mustang became a global model when the S550 generation launched for the 2015 model year. Odometer fraud is a common crime because it’s extremely easy to commit, and the rewards can be high. However, there are ways that … Continue Reading

Former Moline Businessman sentenced to 41 months in connection with scam to rollback odometers at used car dealership

Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Iowa FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 15, 2021 DAVENPORT, IA- On Tuesday, October 11, 2021, Bradley Shane McCorkle, age 51, formerly of Moline, Illinois, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge John A. Jarvey to 41 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to alter and rollback odometer mileage on used cars purchased by his Moline car dealership, 4th Avenue Auto Sales, announced Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal. McCorkle and his co-conspirators tampered with the mileage readings on more than 150 vehicles that were later sold to unsuspecting buyers. The defendants used “straw buyers” to purchase vehicles in their names to “wash” the titles and insulate McCorkle and 4th Avenue from the criminal conduct. McCorkle was also ordered to pay $85,204 in restitution, serve three years of supervised release following the period of imprisonment, and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Department of Transportation, United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

East Moline Businessman sentenced to 37 months in connection with scam to rollback odometers at used car dealership

U.S. Attorneys » Southern District of Iowa » News Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Iowa FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 15, 2021 DAVENPORT, IA- On Tuesday, October 11, 2021, Isaac Bell, age 34, of East Moline, Illinois, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge John A. Jarvey to 37 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to alter and rollback odometer mileage on used cars purchased by his Moline car dealership, 4th Avenue Auto Sales, announced Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal. McCorkle and his co-conspirators tampered with the mileage readings on more than 150 vehicles that were later sold to unsuspecting buyers. The defendants used “straw buyers” to purchase vehicles in their names to “wash” the titles and insulate Bell and 4th Avenue from the criminal conduct. Bell was ordered to pay $85,204 in restitution, serve three years of supervised release following the period of imprisonment, and pay $100 towards the Crime Victims’ Fund. The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Department of Transportation, Bureau of Investigation; United States Department of Transportation; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 29, 2021 Used Car Dealer Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Odometer Tampering Scheme BROOKLYN, NY – Yesterday, in federal court in Brooklyn, Shmuel Gali was sentenced by United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto to 60 months’ imprisonment for his role in a long-running odometer tampering and money laundering scheme, and ordered to pay $3,936,000 in restitution. The defendant pleaded guilty in August 2020 to conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit odometer tampering, making false odometer statements and securities fraud. Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brian M. Boynton, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, and Thomas Fattorusso, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announced the sentence. “The sentence sends a warning that this Office will prosecute those who engage in odometer tampering and deliberately dupe consumers into unknowingly paying inflated prices for their motor vehicles,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis. “With the defendant being sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution to his victims, he is being held to account for his greed in contriving this fraudulent scheme.” “An automobile is one of the biggest purchases many consumers make,” stated Acting Assistant Attorney General Boynton. “Misrepresenting used car mileages defrauds buyers and hides important information concerning safety and reliability. The Department of Justice will continue to work with law enforcement partners to prosecute odometer fraud.” “Automobile sales stand as one of the pillars of the American economy requiring transparency and integrity,” stated Acting IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Fattorusso. “The financial expertise of IRS-CI was needed to uncover this criminal enterprise perpetuated by Shmuel Gali who received a just sentence relative to his criminal activity.” Between 2006 and June 2011, Shmuel Gali, while conspiring with his brother … Continue Reading

Spend $300, make $8K: How criminals make thousands with an easy odometer dupe on used cars

by Lisa Fletcher Thursday, May 20th 2021 7 ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — Scroll to the bottom of this story for 7News On Your Side tips for how to protect yourself from buying a car with a rolled-back odometer. Forty million times a year, Americans buy a used car. They rely on the accuracy of the odometer to help them measure wear and tear on the vehicle. “I bought a 2010 convertible Mustang from a used car outlet that was also a reputable dealer here in Virginia Beach,” said Cheryl Mansfield. “Within barely two months my air conditioning went out, the transmission went out, and something happened with what we later found out was second gear.” Once the rollback was discovered, Mansfield couldn’t sell the vehicle, had to buy another car and roll thousands in negative equity into her car that replaced the Mustang. Photo: Cheryl Mansfield Cheryl Mansfield bought her car with 47,000 miles on it. Or so she thought. In reality, her car had closer to 147,000 miles. The odometer had been rolled back. “We had no idea that it had that many miles on it,” said Mansfield. To find out just how easy it is to roll back the miles on a modern digital odometer, we went to see Josh Ingle, owner of Atlanta Speedometer in Georgia. Ingle says because in most vehicles odometer rollsbacks are untraceable, there’s no way for a consumer to know. Photo: WJLA He says most consumers believe that a digital odometer can’t be rolled back. “Depending on the manufacturer, it’s pretty simple to do if you’ve got the right equipment,” said Ingle. “The equipment used to be $5,000 to $10,000, and some of these things are $300 now. You don’t have to disassemble anything. You can plug it into the car, change your number, … Continue Reading

Three San Jose Residents Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud In Automobile Resale Scheme

Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of California FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Defendants Allegedly Rolled Back Odometers on Vehicles Before Reselling Them At A Significant Profit on Craigslist SAN FRANCISCO – A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court charging Seymur Khalilov, Ramil Heydarov, and Orkhan Aliyev with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, announced Acting United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Tatum King, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair. According to the complaint, between 2016 and the present, Khalilov, 32; Heydarov, 31; and Aliyev, 31, all of San Jose, conspired to purchase high-mileage vehicles, roll back the odometers, and falsify documentation to make the vehicles appear newer. The co-conspirators then allegedly sold the vehicles on Craigslist at significant profits. The complaint alleges defendants fraudulently sold at least a dozen vehicles in this way for a total of at least $300,000. In addition, the complaint states that the number of cars and amount of money at issue will likely change as the ongoing investigation into the scope and extent of the scheme continues. The complaint describes the multiple steps taken by the coconspirators to defraud purchasers of the cars. For example, the complaint describes how defendants purchased high-mileage or old-model vehicles and then, with the assistance of other co-conspirators, rolled back the odometers of the vehicles. Further, the defendants altered documentation related to the vehicles, including titles and registrations, to reflect the lower mileage amount and other fraudulent information. The complaint alleges the fraudulent alterations were made with the goal of increasing the prospective sale price of the vehicles. In addition, when selling the vehicles, the defendants portrayed themselves as the prior owners of the vehicles, including by altering California identification cards, … Continue Reading

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Working to deter odometer and title fraud

Category Archives: Press Releases