The employees of the now-defunct D.I.B. Leasing in Teterboro allegedly created fake employment records and other information to secure loans for customers who didn't qualify.
TRENTON - Six employees of a now-defunct used car dealership have been charged in a bank financing scam that allegedly netted $1.4 million in fraudulent loans for luxury cars.
Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) announced yesterday that the owner of the dealership, D.I.B. Leasing in Teterboro, along with three employees and a bookkeeper, have been charged with conspiracy, money laundering and other offenses. The dealership's finance officer was also charged with financial facilitation and misconduct by a corporate official.
Hoffman said the dealership owner, Patsy Galasso, 75, of Cliffside Park, along with three employees and a bookkeeper were indicted on first-degree charges of conspiracy, financial facilitation of a criminal activity, and trafficking in personal identifying information for their roles in allegedly submitting numerous fraudulent car loan applications between August 2012 and February 2015.
Couple, son torched $140K Bentley for insurance, officials say
Prosecutors say the group made fake employment records and employee verifications, inflated incomes and supplied false pay stubs to dupe banks into approving car financing for customers whose income levels that did not qualify them for loans.
Additionally, four of the loans were taken out in the names of customers who had submitted personal information but ultimately did not buy cars from D.I.B., prosecutors allege. In one case, the victim had never even been to the dealership, they said.
"None of the victims had any idea car loans were taken out in their name until they began receiving bank notices that they were behind on payment for vehicles they didn't own," said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Christopher Iu. "This was a brazen scheme that defrauded consumers and banks alike."
In addition to Galasso, the others charged in the scheme were:
- Hector Marquez, 43, of Monroe, the general manager of the dealership.
- Paul Russo, 40, of Scotch Plains, the finance manager of the dealership.
- Lisa Ghobrial, 48, of Ridgefield, title manager.
- Jennifer Perez, 30, of Union City, who assisted with loan applications.
- Michael Ricciardi, 53, of Wayne, who did bookkeeping for the dealership.
Ricciardi and Marquez were also charged in another incident at the dealership, where a Hudson County couple and their son, who was a salesman at the dealership, allegedly falsified a loan application in order to buy a $139,000 Bentley and then torched the car and reported it stolen to obtain insurance funds.
Galasso, Marquez, Ghobrial and Ricciardi were also charged with second-degree identity theft, and 62 counts of theft by deception.
Marquez, Galasso, and Ghobrial were also charged with second-degree misconduct by a corporate official.
Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
