Father, Son Car Dealership Owners Defrauded Lenders, IRS

CENTRAL VALLEY, NY — The father and son owners of an Orange County car dealership will be going to prison for falsifying tax returns and financial worth statements.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Saaed Moslem, 39, and his father Mehdi Moslem, 73, both of Central Valley, were sentenced Monday to 8 years in prison and 3-1/3 years in prison, respectively, for defrauding their lenders and the IRS.

They were previously found guilty of multiple offenses following a two-and-a-half-week jury trial in June.

Williams said the sentences send a strong message that perpetrators of fraud will be held accountable for their actions.

“This father and son duo spent nearly a decade lying about their finances to get millions of dollars in fraudulent loans while hiding their income from the IRS and, in Saaed Moslem’s case, evading his creditors through a fraudulent bankruptcy filing,” he said.

According to prosecutors, from 2009 through 2018, the father and son conspired to defraud the U.S. by concealing profits relating to their car dealership, Exclusive Motor Sports, and other businesses from the IRS.

To falsely lower their business income, they had their accountant prepare partnership tax returns that significantly understated the company’s inventory.

The fraudulent business income figures passed through to their personal tax returns, contributing to a nearly $1 million underpayment in federal and state taxes.

From 2011 through 2019, the Moslems also conspired to commit bank fraud by providing falsely inflated net worth statements and fabricated tax returns in connection with loan applications, including for a $1.5 million mortgage on the Exclusive Motor Sports property in Central Valley.

Saaed Moslem then made numerous false statements to conceal his assets from financial institutions and other creditors when he filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

As a result, prosecutors said, more than a half a million dollars of unsecured debt was fraudulently discharged in the proceedings.

In 2019, Saaed Moslem committed aggravated identity theft by using a customer’s personal information in connection with a fraudulent car loan application.

In addition to their prison terms, both father and son were sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Mehdi Moslem was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,040,685 and a $100,000 fine. Saaed Moselm was ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of $1,927,303 and a $200,000 fine.