godwin
02-08-2012, 01:31 PM
B.C. man pleads guilty to selling vintage cars he didn't own (http://www.vancouversun.com/pleads+guilty+selling+vintage+cars+didn/6121762/story.html)
B.C. man pleads guilty to selling vintage cars he didn't own
CALGARY — A man from Vernon, B.C., has pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud for selling vintage cars he did not own through eBay and other Internet sites in 2007 and 2008.
According to a statement of admitted facts entered as an exhibit by Crown prosecutor Jenny Rees on Monday, Akthem Saadi (Robert) Yousif agreed to sell a total of 14 such vehicles and accepted more than $333,000 in whole or as deposit from two victims in Sweden and eight victims in seven different states in the United States.
Yousif, 35, would agree to ship the vehicles to the U.S. for pickup, but never did. And once he received the funds he refused to answer victims' phone calls or emails and did not return the deposits sent to his accounts at Calgary banks and Paypal.
According to the court document, Yousif did not own any of the cars, but provided pictures on eBay and through email to the victims.
He pleaded guilty through lawyer Kim Ross on the third day of a scheduled seven-day trial before Justice Colleen Kenny at Court of Queen's Bench.
The scam's first victim, Jonas Eliasson of Sweden, initially agreed to pay Yousif $34,500 for a 1959 Cadillac. In conversation with the accused, he made deals on two other cars for a total of $44,000 plus $2,000 for transportation costs to send the vehicles to Post Falls, Idaho.
Eliasson would then have them transported to Los Angeles, where he would pick them up and arrange to have them shipped to Sweden.
When he arrived in L.A., Eliasson was told the shipping company had no knowledge of his cars. He never did receive them or get a return on the $80,000 he had shipped Yousif.
dslade@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
B.C. man pleads guilty to selling vintage cars he didn't own
CALGARY — A man from Vernon, B.C., has pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud for selling vintage cars he did not own through eBay and other Internet sites in 2007 and 2008.
According to a statement of admitted facts entered as an exhibit by Crown prosecutor Jenny Rees on Monday, Akthem Saadi (Robert) Yousif agreed to sell a total of 14 such vehicles and accepted more than $333,000 in whole or as deposit from two victims in Sweden and eight victims in seven different states in the United States.
Yousif, 35, would agree to ship the vehicles to the U.S. for pickup, but never did. And once he received the funds he refused to answer victims' phone calls or emails and did not return the deposits sent to his accounts at Calgary banks and Paypal.
According to the court document, Yousif did not own any of the cars, but provided pictures on eBay and through email to the victims.
He pleaded guilty through lawyer Kim Ross on the third day of a scheduled seven-day trial before Justice Colleen Kenny at Court of Queen's Bench.
The scam's first victim, Jonas Eliasson of Sweden, initially agreed to pay Yousif $34,500 for a 1959 Cadillac. In conversation with the accused, he made deals on two other cars for a total of $44,000 plus $2,000 for transportation costs to send the vehicles to Post Falls, Idaho.
Eliasson would then have them transported to Los Angeles, where he would pick them up and arrange to have them shipped to Sweden.
When he arrived in L.A., Eliasson was told the shipping company had no knowledge of his cars. He never did receive them or get a return on the $80,000 he had shipped Yousif.
dslade@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald