Debbie Schlussel: Religion of Car Loan Fraud: Did the Money Go to Terrorists?
**** UPDATE: Private Investigator Bill Warner provides detailed info on how this scam works--and says is common among Muslim used car dealers, many of whom he's tracked. This is Bill's area of expertise, as he's written a great deal on used cars involved in terrorist activities. ****
So, 11 men walk into a bank for car loans. Punchline: They all took out loans on luxury autos owned by someone else. And, oh yeah, they're from guess where? The Middle East, including Jordan and Egypt. Maybe that means they're Mormon or Buddhist. . . . or the "Religion of Peace & Car Loan Fraud."
And where did the $300,000-plus that they defrauded from banks go? Well, I wouldn't be shocked at all if it was going to fund Al-Qaeda, HAMAS, or other Muslim Brotherhood-linked entities--since most Egyptians and Jordanians are Sunni and not Shi'ite (though that doesn't mean the two don't work together to help their terrorist groups against us).
Thanks to readers Debra and Duane who sent the Chicago Sun-Times article detailing one of the many fraud schemes of the "Religion of [insert anti-Infidel scam here]". And, um, why would they call a grocery store, "Express Auto"? Do they call an auto dealership, "Krogers"? Yes, if they're not in legitimate businesses.:
They had the car loans -- but not the cars.After a series of raids, prosecutors are set today [DS: this past Friday] to charge 11 people with defrauding a bank by obtaining car loans on luxury automobiles owned by other people, sources said.
Cook County sheriff's police and other agencies conducted the raids Wednesday morning, hitting locations in south suburban Alsip, Oak Lawn, Palos Hills, Orland Park and Chicago. All of those arrested are of Middle Eastern origin, coming from such countries as Egypt and Jordan, a law enforcement source said.
Members of the fraud ring applied for loans at State Farm Bank, an arm of the insurance company, through a State Farm office in Bridgeview, the source said. The applicants provided the make, model, year, and vehicle identification number of each car, as well as other details.
The cars included Mercedes, Jaguars and BMWs, a police source said.
But while the applicants would seek loans, the cars in question were already owned by others."They were never owned by the purported sellers," a law enforcement source said.
Members of the ring had ties to two auto dealerships and a third business on the South Side called Express Auto that is really a grocery store, according to the source. Members of the ring used the businesses as fronts to obtain the loans, sources revealed.
Of the 12 loan applications State Farm Bank received, 11 were approved. The fraud netted more than $300,000, said sources.
This whole thing sounds like the many mortgage fraud schemes I've written about, in which Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda operatives get multiple loans on the same day for the same property, which has been highly overvalued by corrupt assessors, or where they sell the same home multiple times for increasing prices, while still living there and collecting the ill-gotten cash profits.
As a certain ICE Special Agent in Charge, named Jim, once told me of terrorist money-launderers: If they can find a way to get money out of it, they will.
Not a shocker, since we know they can get halal blood from a turnip. All with the FBI usually looking the other way.
Posted by Debbie on August 21, 2007 04:41 PM to Debbie Schlussel