You may recall the story wherein two swanky Lamborghini dealerships—Lamborghini of Orange County and Lamborghini of Calabasas—suddenly closed their doors. Needless to say, the collapse involved a little “creative accounting.” It can now be revealed [by the LA Times] that dealer principle, Viken Keuylian, 45, of Laguna Hills, borrowed $12M from Volkswagen Finance to personally purchase 54 examples of VW’s Italian supercars. Keuylian then spent the money, put the cars on his lot, sold them for $8,163,275 and spent that money too. Vineyard. Lotus dealership (talk about a sinkhole). Gas for HIS Lambo. The girls above. That sort of thing. Simple math reveals that the grifter liberated $20,723,589 from VW and Lambo customers. Obviously, Keuylian will soon be contemplating his crimes from a jail cell. But the big question: will VW go after his customers, demanding they pay the “real” price for their car or cars? It’s highly unlikely. But even so, VW Financial’s credibility and profitability have taken a major ding.
Just another example of what started the collapse. Crooked people dealing with banks that are either also crooked, or careless. Here in the aftermath, the remainder of the public will pay for the mess through government spending. I guess the silver lining could be that it’s not just happening in America? This blows.
Having been bilked by VW on numerous occasions, I hardly feel sorry for them.
To echo CRC,
If these ‘sold below retail’ Lambos are like the other VW products of my experience, VW will soon make up their losses by taking revenge in the Parts and Service departments.
i don’t think VW has legal recourse with the lucky buyers. i believe the actual real question is: Why in the heck, after taking over $20 million didn’t this guy go to a nice, warm, sunny, non-extraditiony country?
creamy,
He couldn’t stray that far from his cocaine dealer?
Rockin’ bodies (the models) but they look a bit skanky. An indication of what Lamborghini’s downmarket Gallardo has done for them. You should see the greasy guys that drive these (in Toronto anyway).
The buyers should be ok. Reading the LA Times piece, it sounds like a standard floor-plan deal, in which case the lender doesn’t actually put a lien against the title of the vehicle. Selling cars but then failing to pay off the underlying floor plan debt is one of the most common cheats in the business, and has been for decades.
High spending swindlers like this guy have, IMO, caused most of the current financial crisis.
@Landcrusher – see? i never woulda thought of that. guess that’s why i never embezzle large amounts of money. whenever i move i remember to change the address with usps, turn on the utilities, get an internet connection, but i never remember to find a new drug dealer. i should make a more complete to-do list.
Robert, Remember that the man who owns the dealership is your pal, so, on principle he’s the dealer principal. :-))