San Antonio-based Vehicle Management Solutions Inc. will pay $280,000 to resolve U.S. Justice Department allegations that it illegally sold or scrapped about 93 vehicles owned by U.S. servicemembers in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), the department announced May 28. Under the settlement, the company known as VMS will pay $220,000 in compensation […]
DOJ Sues California Towing Company for Illegally Auctioning 148 Servicemembers’ Vehicles
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against S & K Towing, Inc. of San Clemente, Calif., alleging the company violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by illegally auctioning motor vehicles owned by military members without obtaining required court orders. The case is the latest in a string of federal enforcement actions against towing companies […]
Nevada Man Pleads Guilty to Arson at Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas
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 […]
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