Thread: Feds raid car lot, homes in east San Diego

Feds raid car lot, homes in east San Diego

2012-12-05T10:51:05Z
Debbi Baker North County Times
4 minutes ago • Debbi Baker

SAN DIEGO — Law enforcement agents served federal search warrants Wednesday morning on at least three locations in the Grantville and Del Cerro neighborhoods of San Diego.

The warrants were served at the Autohaus San Diego car lot on Mission Gorge Road, a home on Park Ridge Boulevard and a home on Madra Avenue.

Agencies involved in the raid at the car lot included the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Border Patrol, Sheriff’s Department and El Cajon police. Federal officers were seen carrying computers and boxes in and out of what appeared to be an office at the lot. The glass on the bottom half of the office door was broken.

The car lot sells high-end vehicles, such as Mercedes, Land Rovers and BMWs.

At least two people were seen being led away in handcuffs.

Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said about the search warrants: “A law enforcement action is being executed, and we are not going to be commenting right now.”

No further information on the investigation was released Wednesday morning.

http://www.nctimes.com/feds-raid-car-lot-homes-in-east-san-diego/article_87783bcf-7f81-5e3f-8113-9a1efe472d25.html

Word on the street is this has to do with laundering drug money for a Mexican cartel and maybe drugs too.

Friday, November 16, 2012 Last Update: 9:32 AM PT

Title Washing SAN DIEGO - Enterprise Rent-a-Car claims a long list of defendants rented 86 cars, then washed the titles and sold them. Here are the defendants in the title-washing complaint: California Department of Motor Vehicles; Yasser Yalda; Wesam Georges; Nicholas & Donovan Financial Inc; Top Dollar; Victor Daniel; J Brian Investments; Autohaus San Diego; Maria Davila; Faramarz Abadi; Jeff Shepard; California Registration Services Inc; AVRS Inc; Nicole Cunningham; Jessica Cunningham; Aiyad Toma; Alen Putros; Abouni Foad; Jeff Zaiser; Gabrielle Durrell; Kelly Torstrom; Rame Shamioon; Reta Shamioon; Rebecca Ortega; Sam Somo; Samir Mako; Hutoglu Songul; American Contractors Indemnity Company; Western Surety Co.; International Fidelity Insurance Co.; and Hartford Fire Insurance Co. Courthouse News Service

TITLE WASHING

This does not involve throwing your title in the washing machine and adding detergent to clean it.

Here's how it works. Several states have laws requiring titles of vehicles totaled in a accident (or other insurance claim) to be branded. Branding involves stamping the title with one of the following (or similar) words: Rebuilt - Salvage - Junk. The brand is placed on the title when the insurance company reports the total loss to the state and before it is sold as salvage.

Other states do not require branding of their vehicles following a total loss claim.

Buyers of these branded salvage cars are very aware of which states require branding and which ones do not. They buy the cars, rebuild them and then want to sell them back to the unsuspecting public without the brand.

To do this, they take the title (not the car) to another state and register the title there. Since that state doesn't brand the car, the brand is removed and nothing reflects the vehicle is a salvage rebuild.

The laws in your state will not protect you. Until every state mandates title branding, requires certified rebuilding licenses and establishes rebuilding requirements (and inspections), you should be VERY wary before buying a used car.

Title Washing

Luxury car dealers charged with money laundering

• 28 mins ago
  by FOX5 Web Staff
• Car Dealership Raided

SAN DIEGO — A father and son who were arrested during a multi-agency raid on their luxury used car lot were charged with money laundering and other crimes Thursday in federal court.


Amir Bahador owns Autohaus San Diego on Mission Gorge Road. Amir’s son, Roman Bahador, owns European Collections, a dealership at the same location. A task force comprising the FBI, IRS, DEA and local police departments served search warrants Wednesday at the dealerships and at the Del Cerro homes of the two men.

Prosecutors say the men were involved in a scheme involving the sale of luxury vehicles for illegal drug money. They are also accused of structuring a series of bank deposits in amounts less than $10,000 to try and avoid having the deposits reported to the IRS.

If convicted of all charges, the Bahadors could each be sentenced to 20 year in prison.

Both men were ordered held without bail. A bail review hearing was scheduled for Dec. 20.

Luxury car dealers charged with money laundering | FOX5 San Diego

CAR LOT OWNER, SONS FACE MONEY LAUNDERING, DRUG CHARGES

Four others arrested after raid of Grantville auto dealership, 2 homes in Del Cerro area

Written b Greg Moran
12:01 a.m., Dec. 7, 2012
Updated 8:40 p.m. , Dec. 6, 2012
SAN DIEGO — The owner of a Grantville auto dealership and two of his sons were charged with money laundering and drug sales in two separate cases unsealed Thursday by federal prosecutors in San Diego.

The charges are the outcome of a raid by federal agents Wednesday morning on the Autohaus car dealership on Mission Gorge Road, and two homes in the Del Cerro neighborhood. The Internal Revenue Service, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol, Sheriff’s Department and El Cajon police participated in the raid.

The dealership and one of the homes is owned by Amir Bahador. He appeared in federal court along with a son, Roman, and four others, and was charged with conspiracy to launder money and engaging in structured financial transactions.

A complaint said that in April and August, an undercover federal agent posing as a drug dealer spent $90,000 buying two Mercedes-Benz vehicles from Amir and Roman Bahador.

The undercover agent said the pair were told the purchase would be in cash and that the money was the proceeds from drug sales.

The complaint said the Bahadors created bogus documents that said the car was purchased by someone else. The funds were then deposited in multiple deposits of less than $10,000 into bank accounts controlled by Bahador and his son, co-owners of the auto business.

Federal laws require banks to report to the IRS all transactions of $10,000 or more. Authorities often look for a pattern of transactions less than that amount as a sign of possible money laundering.

The Bahadors were ordered held without bond until a hearing Tuesday before Magistrate Judge David Bartick. Amir Bahador’s lawyer, Jeremy Warren, said outside of court that his client will vigorously contest the charges.

Also charged in the case were Mehdi Rokhfirooz and Mahmoud Reza Shantiai, who the complaint said helped create the false documents; Nicole Madruga, a girlfriend of Roman Bahador alleged to be involved in the banking transaction; and Jeffrey Moody, an assistant of Roman Bahador who also was involved in the banking transactions.

In a second case, Brenton Bahador, another son of Amir Bahador, was charged with trying to purchase five kilograms of cocaine from an undercover drug agent in November.

The complaint in that case said that during the transaction, Brenton Bahador offered to trade a Bentley automobile from the Autohaus dealership for the drugs.

Also charged in that case are Jesse Gonzalez, Morgan Dimmitt, Eric Leitzke and Renee Lewin. They all were described as lookouts or assistants during the drug deal.

All five were also ordered held without bail.

Amir Bahador has been named in dozens of civil suits over the years stemming from his car sales business. He also pleaded guilty in 1988 in federal court to charges of dialing back odometer readings in cars he sold.

In July 2009, a girlfriend of Bahador also won a temporary restraining order against him. In court documents, she said they were in the middle of an argument at his home that month when he began punching her in the face, neck and head, and then threw her across the room. She said he fled and she called 911.

The case was dismissed in December 2009 after both of them failed to show up for court in her bid to have the restraining order extended.

Staff writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this report. greg.moran@utsandiego.com (619) 293-1236 Twitter: @gregmoran

http://www.sandiegored.com/noticias/31851/DEA-seizes-186-million-dollars-from-Mexican-drug-traffickers/