Car Dealer Convicted for Toyota Fraud

A Kentucky-based used car dealer racked up enough charges in a Toyota fraud case to make it look like he was a classic mob boss.

The simple fact is, he isn’t a mob boss, and he wasn’t getting away with anything; once the FBI got involved and brought the charges down, that will likely keep this dealer behind bars for a very long time. This is a case that you might never think would be one you would hear about, but the latest landscape of the used car market might have a little to do with what happened in this case.

Just a Few of the Details

James Pinson owned a used car dealership in Kentucky. This was a place where many customers would go to buy used cars, including Toyota trucks. Somewhere along the way, Pinson came up with a scheme to sell trucks back to Toyota, which would take advantage of the Toyota Customer Support Program. It took time, but the FBI finally caught up with Pinson and brought him to justice. You might think the recent increase in the price of used vehicles would cause something like this scheme, but Pinson’s actions actually happened several years ago.

The Charges have Racked Up

This car dealer in Kentucky is convicted of Toyota fraud, but that isn’t a specific charge that can be used. Instead, the United States Department of Justice slapped Pinson with a list of charges that you would expect to find in a scheme of this magnitude. These charges include three counts of wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and two counts of conspiring to commit money laundering. As you can plainly see, these are charges you expect to find in a mob scene from the movies, not in real life in the middle of the country.

How Did Pinson Fraud Toyota?

Pinson was the owner of Big Blue Motor Sales, and he was explicitly working with Toyota through the Toyota Customer Support Program. The scheme was pretty simple; he would purchase Toyota trucks at wholesale prices through auctions he would attend where he represented his dealership. Once he bought the trucks, he would then obtain driver’s licenses in Kentucky and West Virginia and sell the Toyota trucks at 150 percent of the retail value back to Toyota through the Customer Support Program.

In all, Toyota wrote 350 checks to the residents in these two states. The checks were made out to the various names that Pinson had obtained licenses for, and the money was then deposited into Pinson’s bank account after he forged the signatures on all 3500 checks. All of this took place over the course of a couple of years, from 2013 to 2015.

The Loophole that Worked; For a Little While

Anytime there is a loophole in a program or contract, you can be someone who is going to find a way to exploit it. In this case, the Toyota program offers a warranty that allows the company to repurchase used vehicles that have extensive rust damage for 150 percent of the value of the vehicle. Why did Pinson need to create false identities to do this? The caveat to the entire scheme was that the vehicle must be owned by an individual, not a dealership.

Once the money was deposited in his account, Pinson would use the money to buy more Toyota trucks, pocketing the profit he made and creating another loop in the scheme with the next group of trucks that he would sell back.

Pinson Wasn’t the Only One Involved

A scheme that results in $4.3 million in fraudulent money changing hands isn’t one that can be pulled off by one individual. There had to be others involved to process the paperwork and validate that the trucks Pinson was selling back were owned by individuals and had the damage stated. This meant bribing people to collude with him.

Pinson bribed a service manager at Toyota with cash to help him keep things going and bribed a Toyota Customer Support Program staff member to falsely validate the condition of the vehicles and certify that the full amount should be paid for each of these trucks.

Several Agencies Involved inBringing Pinson to Justice

This used car dealer that was accused, and now convicted, of Toyota fraud, had several agencies after him. When 350 of the most reliable trucks are reported to have extensive rust damage in only two states over the course of only two years, red flags are certainly raised. Some of the agencies that were involved in bringing Pinson to justice include the U. S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and the West Virginia State Police. The West Virginia Office of the Insurance Commissioner and the National Insurance Crime Bureau also worked with others to bring Pinson to justice.

All Money to be Repaid

Even though it took a few years to bring Pinson to justice, you can quickly and easily see that crime doesn’t pay. He is facing 22 years in prison, will serve a mandatory two-year sentence from the aggravated identity theft conviction and will have to pay back all of the $4.3 million to Toyota, and will have to forfeit all property and items he purchased with the money. This includes a beach house that he purchased in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina.

Sentencing to Take Place in March

Most of us would never think to try and scam one of the largest automakers in the world out of millions of dollars. Some might think that Toyota would never notice a few million here or there, but they certainly do. This is a lesson that James Pinson is learning the hard way, after having a few years of the “good life,” but in a way that was nothing more than a fraud. Sentencing for Pinson by the Department of Justice will take place on March 3, 2022. It’s expected he will spend several years behind bars.