Employee of Middletown Used Car Dealership Sentenced to Prison for Role in Auto Loan Fraud Scheme

Topics:  Justin Williams

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Connecticut
4 March 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JUSTIN WILLIAMS, 42, of Rocky Hill, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to 21 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role in an auto loan fraud scheme. Judge Chatigny ordered Williams to serve the first three months of his supervised release in home confinement, and to perform 200 hours of community service.

Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the sentencing occurred via videoconference.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Williams worked as a salesman and de facto general manager at a used car dealership located at 1075 Newfield Street in Middletown, known variously as Car Nation, LLC, Car Nation CT, LLC, and Middletown Motorcars, which was owned and operated by George Hajati. In connection with automobile loan applications for multiple borrowers, Williams, Hajati and others submitted documents and statements to victim lenders that falsely represented the borrower’s employment, salary, sources of income, and amount of a down payment. The false documents included fictitious or altered borrower pay stubs and income verification letters purportedly from the Social Security Administration. Williams submitted loan applications indicating that borrowers made salaries they did not make, worked at jobs they did not work, received income from the Social Security Administration they did not receive, and made down payments they did not make. In some instances, the borrower was not aware of, and did not authorize, Williams’ use of his or her personal identifying information to obtain automobile loans in these ways.

Between approximately November 2015 and June 2016, Williams defrauded lenders of $264,345.54 through this scheme. He was ordered to pay $251,267.08 in restitution.

Williams was previously convicted of federal fraud charges related to a Hartford-area scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, and he was on federal supervised release as the time of his participation in this auto loan fraud scheme.

Williams was arrested on a criminal complaint on January 16, 2020. On November 19, 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Williams, who is released on a $100,000 bond, is required to report to prison on July 5, 2021.

Hajati pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud stemming from this scheme. He also was previously convicted of federal fraud charges related to the Hartford-area mortgage fraud scheme and was serving a term of supervised release. In June 2020, he was sentenced to 27 months of imprisonment and ordered to pay $654,952.56 in restitution for his role in the auto loan fraud scheme, and was sentenced to an additional 21 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Conor M. Reardon and David T. Huang.