- Prosecutors say the scheme involved at least six vehicles worth more than $650,000.
- A 2021 Corvette using a stolen identity and forged down-payment check.
- Lei Zhou sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme.
Stealing a Corvette usually involves taking one without the owner’s permission. Lei Zhou’s approach was to walk into a dealership, shake hands with employees, and then make the purchase with somebody else’s identity. Talk about an extreme way to avoid the feeling of buyer’s remorse. Federal prosecutors say he secured more than $114,000 in financing for a 2021 Chevy Corvette, then used a forged check for the down payment. The car was headed for resale in New York, but it was only one part of a much bigger scheme.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, Zhou and others used stolen personal and financial information, along with stolen or counterfeit identity cards, to buy or lease at least six luxury vehicles from a dealership in Greenwich, Connecticut. Together, the vehicles were worth more than $650,000. Zhou, 43, of Flushing, New York, was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in federal prison.
Read: A $1.2M Stolen Parts Operation In NYC Ran On Hondas And Toyotas, Not Exotics
Authorities don’t say what the other vehicles were, but the Chevrolet sale evidently demonstrates how the scheme worked. On October 4, 2022, Zhou used one victim’s identity to obtain $114,175.31 in financing for the car. He then submitted a forged $14,000 check in another victim’s name as a down payment, prosecutors say. After taking delivery, he transported the Corvette to New York with the aim of reselling it.
Obviously, things didn’t end up going the way Zhou hoped. The Attorney’s Office says most of the vehicles were repossessed before they could be resold. Interestingly, the Justice Department didn’t just keep the other stolen vehicles out of the announcement. They don’t even say which dealership it was. Ultimately, they’re not the only victims here, either.
The real people whose identities were used to buy these cars are no doubt unraveling the potential damage done to them. At least with this case now closed, they have a paper trail of what took place. Zhou, for his part, has been detained since his arrest in August of 2024. In May of this year, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud as well as aggravated identity theft.
His three-and-a-half-year sentence will likely end in early 2028, if he serves the entire thing. Hopefully, he’s learned a valuable lesson by then. Stealing a Corvette, or any car for that matter, is dumb. Doing it with someone else’s identity is even worse. Not only is it harmful to multiple parties, but it can leave a clear paper trail. In Zhou’s case, it was one that caught up with him.
