Poca Man Pleads Guilty to Role in $4 Million Warranty Fraud Scheme

Topics:  Toyota

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of West Virginia
28 February 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Poca, West Virginia man entered a guilty plea to mail fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud Toyota of more than $4 million, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Stanley Clark, 67, faces up to 20 years of incarceration when he is scheduled to be sentenced on May 28, 2020. He will also be required to pay restitution to Toyota.

“This was one heck of a scheme and it worked until the fraud was caught. Of course, that’s always the story with fraud schemes. Clark was involved in perpetrating this warranty fraud scheme for two years,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Thanks to the outstanding work of a number of law enforcement agencies, the scheme was thwarted and Clark is facing significant time in prison for his crime. Great work by the entire team to expose a costly fraud to a great company and consumers.”

Clark was employed as a transfer agent for a company contracted by Toyota to administer an extended warranty extension program where Toyota had offered to repurchase certain trucks for 150% of their value, so long as those trucks were owned by individual Toyota customers. Clark admitted he was a participant in a fraudulent scheme whereby a Kentucky used car dealership, Big Blue Motor Sales, bought trucks at wholesale prices at auction, obtained hundreds of copies of Kentucky and West Virginia residents’ driver’s licenses, fraudulently titled the trucks in the name of those residents, and induced the car company to repurchase the trucks at 150% of value.

Clark admitted that the execution of the scheme relied on him to coordinate fraudulent truck repurchase meetings, work with a notary to forge the false owners’ signatures on truck repurchase documentation, and mail the fraudulent repurchase documentation that induced Toyota to repurchase the trucks. Clark received a cash payment from Big Blue Motor Sales for every fraudulent transaction. The scheme participants ran 350 trucks through the scheme between 2013 and 2015, causing approximately $4.3 million in losses to Toyota.

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia State Police, and the West Virginia Office of the Insurance Commissioner conducted the investigation. Former Assistant United States Attorney Stefan Hasselblad and Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew J. Tessman and Steven I. Loew are handling the prosecution.

Follow us on Twitter: @SDWVNews and @USAttyStuart