Faces minimum statutory penalty of five years in prison. A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty on Feb. 24 to using a firearm and Molotov cocktails to destroy and damage vehicles and property at a Tesla Collision center in March 2025. According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, […]
San Francisco Tow Company Operator Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Arson Conspiracy
Defendant also received concurrent 27-month sentence for fraudulent auto insurance claims scheme. Jose Vicente Badillo, the owner and operator of two San Francisco Bay Area towing companies, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for his involvement in a scheme to burn competitors’ tow trucks throughout the Bay Area in 2023. U.S. District Judge […]
North Carolina Man Sentenced to Prison for Selling Counterfeit Airbags
Vehicle manufacturers’ testing confirmed steering wheel airbags were not built by the companies. A federal judge sentenced a Raleigh, N.C. man to one year and one day in prison for importing and selling approximately 2,500 counterfeit airbags over a two-year period, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced. Mateen Mohammad […]
North Carolina Man Sentenced for Selling Dangerous Counterfeit Car Airbags
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced Wednesday, that on September 30, a federal judge sentenced a Raleigh, N.C. man to one year and a day for importing and selling thousands of counterfeit car airbags into the Raleigh area over the past two years. The defendant, Mateen Mohammad Alinaghian, 31, […]
Leader of National Catalytic Converter Theft Ring Pleads Guilty, Admits to Selling More Than $600 Million in Stolen Goods
A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in the Northern District of Oklahoma to leading a multi-state operation that stole thousands of catalytic converters from private vehicles and sold them on a secondary market for millions of dollars, based on the value of the precious metals that the converters contain. Navin Khanna, […]
MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers and Auto Care Association Applaud DOJ-FTC Joint Comment on Expanding Consumer Access to Vehicle Operational, Diagnostic and Telematics Data
MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers applauds the submission last week from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the U.S Copyright Office supporting MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers’ petition for a new exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s anti-circumvention provisions, which prohibit bypassing copyright protection systems. MEMA’s proposed exemption would allow […]
U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission Support Renewing and Expanding Copyright Exemptions for Automotive Right to Repair
Joint comment to U.S. Copyright Office supports renewal of existing exemptions and expanding exemption to include access to operational data needed to repair motor vehicles including telematics. The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have submitted a comment to the U.S. Copyright Office to advocate for regulations that would facilitate consumers’ and […]
Retired Memphis Auto Technician Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Counterfeit Airbags from China
A retired auto mechanic in Memphis, Tenn. pled guilty in federal court March 6 to trafficking counterfeit airbags and causing a dangerous good or forbidden explosive to be placed onto a commercial aircraft. United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz announced the guilty plea March 7. According to information presented in court, Mohammed Al-Abadi, 51, imported […]
Former Root Insurance Exec Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Company of More Than $10 Million
Defendant used stolen funds to buy a yacht, amphibious plane, and luxury vehicle. Brinson Caleb Silver, 43, the former Chief Marketing Officer of Root, Inc., the online car insurance company, pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Ohio on November 28 to one count each of wire fraud and contempt of court. As part […]
New York Collision Repair Shop Owner Pleads Guilty to Income Tax Fraud
Shop owner had previously been convicted in New York State court of insurance and sales tax fraud. A New York State man pleaded guilty October 11 to conspiring to defraud the United States relating to his efforts to conceal income from the IRS. In 2016, the defendant had also been convicted of insurance and sales […]
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