Auto Loan Scheme Bust Nets 16 from Queens and Brooklyn, DA Says

A total 16 Queens and Brooklyn residents have been indicted for allegedly taking part in a massive automobile loan fraud scheme that scammed 18 financial institutions out of hundreds of millions of dollars, the Queens district attorney said.

Earlier this week, the defendants were arraigned on multiple charges of enterprise corruption, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, falsifying business records, conspiracy and criminal possession of a forged instrument, Queens DA Richard Brown said.

Two additional defendants are currently being sought, while three corporate defendants are awaiting arraignment.

“This was a highly complex and sophisticated financial fraud scheme in which individuals with good credit agreed to ‘lend’ their identity and credit scores to the defendants in return for monetary kickbacks as well as a general assurance that engaging in the activity would boost their credit score,” the DA said of the scheme, which had been investigated by the city Police Department’s Auto Crime Division for three years. “Unfortunately, these individuals wound up with ruined credit, multiple banks suing them for money and suspended driver’s licenses for unpaid parking tickets on vehicles they allegedly own.”

A total 16 individuals have been arraigned for their alleged roles in the scheme, which cost 18 financial institutions more than $200 million on 47 loans, the DA said.

Additionally, 12 of the defendants have been charged with conspiring with one another to purchase high-end vehicles, such as Maseratis and Porsches, on credit between July 2008 and March 2010, the DA said.

The three corporate defendants will be arraigned on Dec. 14. If convicted, they could face fines of up to $10,000 or twice the amount of the allegedly illicit gains, Brown said.

The other 16 individuals, each of whom could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted, will also return to court on that same day.

During the course of the scheme, the defendants are alleged to have used straw borrowers with good credit scores to take out $1.9 million in loans for the purchase of cars or home improvements in exchange for kickbacks, the DA said.

Once the vehicles had been obtained by members of the enterprise, they were sold or rented out on the black market.

But no vehicles were ever purchased and no home repairs were made, the DA said. The defendants are accused of making a few monthly payments on the loans before defaulting, leaving the financial institutions liable for the losses.

“The suspects would stop making payments after three installments and then rent or sell these high-end vehicles, often to other criminals in various neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn, leaving the straw purchasers holding the bag,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Brooklyn’s Andre Dickenson is accused of being the enterprise’s ring leader and Queens Village’s Duane Box and Danien Brown as well as Alain Galette were the group’s recruiters, the DA said.

Members of the group allegedly met with the recruiters at Springfield Gardens’s ABC Auto Sales, a used car dealership where Box worked, to sign for the cars, Brown said.

In most cases, the vehicles were sold by one dealership and financed by another, which the DA said is known as “fraud financing.”

An established dealership was needed to apply for financing on the buyer’s behalf and could not reveal to the lender that a less established dealer, such as ABC, was actually selling the cars, the DA said.

During the course of the investigation, police allegedly discovered a second criminal enterprise being operated by South African national and Brooklyn resident Alexander Ndaula, who was also obtaining automobile loans, the DA said.

Queens residents arrested in the bust include South Ozone Park’s Ernest Butler and Marvin Jackson, Jamaica’s Carl Tappin and Christopher Lewis and Queens Village’s Christopher Vincent.

Brooklyn residents include Natasha Green, Maurice Hayes, Adrian Sylvester, Quate Alexander, Yusekbek Makhamadeliey, Ronda Richardson, Luis Santiago and Alain Saint Phard as well as three businesses: Quiet Money Realty, Rear Guard Enterprises and Silver Arrow Auto Sales.