Bro, I bet this guy thought he was a genius at the height of his scheme to dupe Tesla into giving him free cars by using a loophole in their payment system. Now, not so much.
You know, I think if he hadn't driven that last Tesla out onto Lake Champlain and lit it on fire so he could get that insurance money he might have gotten away with this for at least a little bit longer — maybe enough time to flee the country or something. It's always the greedy stuff that gets ya in the end.
Here's what happened, to refresh your memory:
The man, 34-year-old Michael Gonzalez from Vermont, was able to get five brand new EVs from Tesla that were worth over $560,000 in total, the DOJ said. He later resold three of the cars for below sticker prices to unknowing purchasers, including a used car dealership and buyers on eBay and Craigslist for about $231,900 in total, prosecutors said. The vehicles included a 2018 Model 3, and four Model X EVs, according to court records…
The Vermont man was able to trick Tesla's payment system by giving it the banking information for accounts with insufficient funds, including some accounts that had less than $110 in them, according to court records. The company then gave Gonzalez the cars before it was clear the man's banking accounts did not have the full funds to pay off the full balance.
Bro made $230,000 on Teslas he never paid for!
He used different names to purchase the vehicles, including one of his ex-girlfriends and his baby momma. He got the titles for the cars by submitting false information to the DMV.
At one point he was able to avoid repo men sent by Tesla by hiding the car in a storage unit. Like, this guy was the real deal. That is, until they tracked him down.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to five charges of possessing and disposing of stolen vehicles. He was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday and has been ordered to pay Tesla about $493,000, as well as another $231,900 to the government, court records show.
I bet he's kicking himself for starting that car on fire. It sounds like that's where this whole thing started to unwind. Either way, his time was coming, and now it'll be four years and $700k for him.
I'll leave you with this:
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