Owner of Exotic Motorcars in Tarpon Springs Arrested For Fraud
The Tarpon Springs Police Department arrested the owner of Exotic Motorcars, Wassim “Peter” Nasr of Tarpon Springs, for his involvement in a fraud involving the sale of a 1965 Ford Cobra Mustang that was on consignment at the dealership.
The dealership is located at 41041 US Hwy-19 North.
Police say the owner of the vehicle entered into a consignment agreement with the dealership on May 8, 2018, to have the dealership sell the vehicle for $57,000 dollars.
On May 19, 2018, the dealership sold the vehicle to an overseas buyer for $57,000 dollars. However, representatives from the dealership concealed the sale of the vehicle from the owner and continued to actively communicate with the owner throughout May and into June insinuating the vehicle hadn’t yet been sold.
The owner only discovered his Ford Cobra Mustang was in the process of being sold when he arrived at the dealership at the end of June and discovered it was no longer on the property. The owner was convinced by Wassim that he needed to accept the prospective purchaser’s offer of $52,000 dollars because no other higher offers had been received for the vehicle.
A check was issued on July 6, 2018 to the owner by Exotic Motorcars in the amount of $52,000 dollars and this check bounced due to insufficient funds.
The dealership provided the owner with another check, which subsequently cleared.
The Tarpon Springs Police Department was notified of the bounced check by the owner and began actively investigating the case. During the course of this investigation, it was discovered the dealership had deceived the owner into believing his vehicle had only sold for $52,000 dollars.
In addition to the uncovering of this deception, the investigation revealed a Power of Attorney and Certificate of Title had been forged by the dealership in the owner’s name to assist in perpetuating the fraudulent sale of his vehicle.
The crimes uncovered during this investigation pertaining to the sale of the Ford Cobra Mustang don’t appear to be isolated.
The Tarpon Springs Police Department is currently investigating four other complaints from parties who were issued bounced checks by Exotic Motorcars. The bounced checks that have so far been reported to the police department total over $185,000 dollars.
Wassim was arrested today for Fraud Involving a Security Interest, but the Tarpon Springs Police Department is still actively investigating the dealership for the issuance of multiple worthless checks and possible title fraud.
The Tarpon Springs Police Department has been assisted in their investigation by the Bureau of Dealers Services.
If you would like to report any similar crimes or have information that could assist in the investigation against Exotic Motorcars please contact Detective Lemmon at 727-938-2849.