A used car salesman who engaged in a fraud conspiracy and victimized two dozen financial institutions into providing more than $2 million has been sentenced to prison.
Adrian Knight, 41, of Virginia Beach, was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to conduct mail, bank, and wire fraud, according to a statement released by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday. He was the owner of Ace Auto Sales, LLC in Chesapeake.
From March 2019 to January 2023, Knight and co-conspirators listed Ace as the vendor of automobiles in buyers’ agreements or buyers’ orders, which were accompanied by fraudulent loan applications to various financial institutions for automobiles that were not in Ace’s stock.
According to court records, Knight recruited the other conspirators and led the operation. To obtain the loss, the conspirators gave fraudulent information such as altered car identification numbers, as well as phony income and employment information.
Once the financial institutions granted loan monies, Knight would keep a percentage of the revenues and split the rest with his co-conspirators. The conspirators would then default on the loan or claim it was filed through identity theft, leaving the banks or insurers with a total fraud loss of more than $2 million.
No automobiles were purchased with the loan proceeds.
“Adrian Knight conspired to profit from exploiting financial institutions that serve honest consumers,” said Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “These schemes undermine legitimate lending and drive up costs for borrowers. We will continue to ensure that markets remain fair, transparent, and trustworthy, and that those who manipulate the system for personal gain are brought to justice.”
