We’ve all heard stories about cars salesmen lining their pockets by inflating the prices of desirable cars, such as the $133k Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 to which one dealership tried to add a $250k markup. But one former Kia dealer has just been handed a lengthy jail term for a far more serious, and far less legal, scam.
Bobby Mayes, a former owner of Big Red Dealerships in Oklahoma, which included Norman Mitsubishi, Big Red Kia and Mayes Kia, was sent to federal prison for 130 months this week after being found guilty of an elaborate scheme he and two co-defendants used to obtain millions of dollars in loan payments. Big Red used advertisements to lure customers with bad credit then fraudulently persuaded lenders to approve loans by falsely claiming that the customer had provided cash down payments or had brought in another vehicle to the dealerships trade. Mayes then created a fake pawn shop as part of a complicated arrangement to send some of the loan money into his own pocket.
Mayes and co-workers Charles Gooch and Courtney Wells, were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud in November 2021, but while awaiting sentencing in 2022 Wells and her boyfriend fled to Mexico, eventually being captured and returned to the U.S. that October.
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Mayes was then charged with tampering with the case, having been accused of fabricating emails in an attempt to get a new trial and helping Wells escape to Mexico, even paying for her flight. Wells and Gooch have both cooperated with the government and testified against Mayes and will be sentenced later this month. Mayes has already paid $1.2 million in restitution but was ordered to hand over profits from the scheme that amount to a further $1 million as well as being locked up for almost 11 years.
“This long-running conspiracy resulted in significant losses to over 20 financial institutions, while hundreds of borrowers were saddled with debt they simply could not afford,” Oklahoma City FBI Special Agent in Charge Edward Gray said in a statement. “The sentence handed down today should serve as a stark reminder that this level of greed comes with an even bigger price to pay.”