A Monroe man, who formerly served as manager of a Bergen County used car dealership, has pleaded guilty to bank financing scams that netted $1.4 million in fraudulent loans for luxury cars.
Two co-workers also pleaded guilty to the same charges, attorney state Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor announced Tuesday.
Hector Marquez, 43, the general manager of D.I.B. Leasing in Teterboro, pleaded guilty to first-degree money laundering and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official before Bergen Court Superior Court Judge Susan Steele.
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Marquez also pleaded guilty to second-degree insurance fraud in a separate indictment involving a $139,000 Bentley purchased at his dealership and later torched and reported stolen to an insurance company.
As part of the plea, Marquez is facing a prison sentence not to exceed 16 years in the dealership case. In the insurance fraud case, the state has agreed to recommend a sentence not to exceed seven years, to run concurrent to the first sentence. Marquez is scheduled to be sentenced Jan 20, 2017.
“Hector Marquez was the point man in a criminal conspiracy in which banks were duped into approving auto loans for customers whose income levels did not qualify them for financing on the luxury vehicles,” Porrino said. “He then furthered his criminal involvement by helping one of his buyers to unload a pricey vehicle by committing insurance fraud. The lengthy prison time he faces should serve as a deterrent to anyone who thinks this kind of fraud is a path to easy money.”
Marquez is the third defendant to plead guilty in the D.I.B. Leasing case. The dealership’s finance manager, Paul Russo, 40, of Scotch Plains, pleaded guilty to second-degree money laundering and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official. He is facing a 10 year prison term when he is sentenced Sept. 16.
The dealership’s title manager, Lisa Ghobrial, 48, of Ridgefield, recently pleaded guilty to third-degree misconduct by a corporate official. The state has agreed to recommend a three-year probationary term when she is sentenced on Sept. 16.
The trio, along with a loan applicant assistant, a bookkeeper and the owner of the dealership, were charged in connection with the conspiracy. Prosecutors said the defendants created fake employment records, inflated incomes and supplied false pay stubs and fictitious employee verifications to dupe banks into approving auto financing for customers whose income levels did not qualify them for loans on the pricey vehicles.
Four of the loans were taken out in the names of customers who had submitted personal information to apply for financing but ultimately did not buy cars from the dealership, prosecutors allege. The fifth loan was in the name of a person who had never been to D.I.B. Leasing or applied for a car loan there, prosecutors alleged.
The loan money obtained from the banks was for personal benefit by the various employees of the dealership, prosecutors said.
“These defendants not only defrauded banks and corrupted the integrity of the car loan process; they preyed on customers who trusted them with their personal information,” said acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Christopher Iu. “My office will continue prosecuting the remaining defendants in this case to ensure they, too, are held responsible for their actions.”
The remaining defendants have all been indicted on charges of conspiracy and money laundering in the first degree and with a second-degree charge of trafficking in personal identifying information pertaining to another person.
They are: Patsy Galasso, 75, of Cliffside Park, owner of D.I.B. Leasing; Jennifer Perez, 30, of Union City, who assisted with loan applications; and Michael Ricciardi, 53, of Wayne, who did bookkeeping for the dealership.
Galasso and Ricciardi also are charged with second-degree identity theft and 62 counts of theft by deception — two in the second degree and 60 in the third degree. Galasso is also charged with second-degree misconduct by a corporate official.
First-degree crimes carry a sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $200,000; second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $150,000; third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000.
