Man Sentenced for Swindling Tesla out of $607k in Vehicles Through Downpayment Scheme

Man swindled Tesla out of 5 vehicles worth $607k by making downpayments and never paying in full. He would then quickly resell the cars.

The fraud went on from Sep 2018 to Jan 2021 over dealerships in 4 states.

The burnt Tesla Model X found on a frozen Vermont lake in 2019 was part of the scheme. He couldn't sell it so he burned it for insurance fraud.

In Oct 2022 the man was sentenced to 4 years in prison for possessing and disposing of the stolen Teslas.

He had made initial $2,500 payments on each car before taking delivery, then set up fake accounts or accounts with insufficient funds for the remaining balance.