Lexington brothers allegedly posed as sales reps, scammed luxury car dealers for millions
Two Lexington brothers took part in conning luxury auto dealerships around the country out of millions of dollars, a federal grand jury has charged.
The grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Ibrahim A. Qasim, 29, and Hussein A. Qasim, 34, with one count of conspiracy and 30 counts of money laundering.
The two were involved with others in a “complex scheme” to sell expensive cars they didn’t actually own, according to an affidavit from Roger J. Kimmel, a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service.
Using fake names, the brothers allegedly contacted dealerships around the country, claimed to work at dealerships that also handled high-end cars, and offered to sell the cars.
The names of the dealerships the two used were real, but they didn’t work for the businesses and didn’t own the cars, according to court records.
If they worked out a deal, the brothers provided information for the victim dealerships to use in wiring payments to their bank accounts, Kimmel said in his statement.
The brothers also pretended to be interested in buying cars.
As part of those discussions, dealerships sent the brothers photos and other information on the cars and the dealerships, which the Qasims could then use to try to defraud other businesses, according to the indictment.
In one example in court records, a man using the name Michael Armstrong contacted a car dealership in Austin, Tex., last November claiming to be a salesman for a dealership in Connecticut, to work out a deal for a 2014 Ferrari the Connecticut business had.
The Texas dealership ultimately agreed to pay $2,510,110 for the Ferrari and wired that amount to an account at a bank in Lexington on Nov. 22, according to Kimmel’s sworn statement.
When the Texas dealership sent a truck to pick up the Ferrari, employees at the Connecticut dealership confirmed it had the car, but didn’t have an employee named Michael Armstrong who had worked out a deal for it, Kimmel said.
The account at the Lexington bank where the dealership wired the money was for a business that listed Ibrahim Qasim as the agent, according to the court record.
The same day the $2.5 million came in, Qasim allegedly used internet banking to transfer $2.49 million of the total to another account he had — making 25 transfers of just under $100,000 each — then came to the bank two days later and got 11 separate cashier’s checks to withdraw the money.
In some cases, dealerships realized the fraud in time to freeze payments, but in others people involved in the fraud withdrew the money too quickly to do that, according to Kimmel’s affidavit.
Examples cited in the court record allege the brothers defrauded dealerships out of about $4 million.
The two transferred money to co-conspirators outside the U.S., including in Jordan, through bank wires, Apple cash and cryptocurrency, the indictment alleged.
The most serious charge against the brothers is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
