{"id":182868,"date":"2026-03-08T05:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/182868\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T05:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:23:15","slug":"tampa-car-dealer-sentenced-to-prison-accused-of-372k-car-loan-fraud-scheme-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/182868\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa car dealer sentenced to prison, accused of $372K car loan fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Brief<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Tampa resident Mohamad Jihad Fakih, 27, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and attempting to export a stolen vehicle, according to the state attorney&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Prosecutors say Fakih used his access as an auto wholesaler to submit fraudulent loan applications for vehicles that didn\u2019t exist, pocketing the money once loans were approved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Investigators say the scheme also involved false insurance claims and an attempt to ship a stolen Rolls-Royce overseas, totaling more than $372,000 in losses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; A 27-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Tampa;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Tampa <\/a>man is heading to federal prison after investigators say he used his position as a car dealer to submit fake loan applications and insurance claims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mohamad Jihad Fakih was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and attempting to export a stolen motor vehicle, according to the state attorney&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fakih, who was found guilty in August 2025, was also ordered to forfeit $378,886.96 \u2014 the proceeds of &#8220;the conspiracy to commit wire fraud.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The backstory<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to court documents, Fakih used his role as a car dealer and wholesaler to access a dealership website, &#8220;through which automobile financing applications could be submitted.&#8221; He and an unidentified co-conspirator allegedly identified fake buyers, whose names were on the loan documents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">READ:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/we-exhausted-tampa-bay-rescue-races-save-accidental-litter-begs-community-foster\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:&#039;We are exhausted\u2019: Tampa rescue races to save accidental litter, begs community to foster;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">&#8216;We are exhausted\u2019: Tampa rescue races to save accidental litter, begs community to foster<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Investigators say Fakih and his co-conspirator would then submit these fake applications to financing companies for cars that didn\u2019t actually exist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After the loans were approved, the funds were disbursed to Fakih as the supposed seller, investigators say. He would then pocket the cash and give a cut to his co-conspirator and the fake buyers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dig deeper<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Federal prosecutors say Fakih also filed false insurance claims, reporting the vehicles as stolen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials say this scheme involved at least six vehicles in the amount of at least $372,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Investigators say Fakih also attempted to export cars overseas. In one instance, Fakih is accused of arranging for a stolen Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV to be shipped in a container out of the Port of Savannah. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted the container and seized the stolen Rolls-Royce before it could leave the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The entire case was investigated by the FBI\u2019s Joint Terrorism Task Force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What they&#8217;re saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a written statement, Fakih\u2019s attorney, Mark O\u2019Brien, told FOX 13, &#8220;My client accepted full responsibility for his actions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Source<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Information for this story was gathered from the state attorney&#8217;s office and a statement from the defendant&#8217;s attorney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Tampa resident Mohamad Jihad Fakih, 27, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[86197,32137,2026,86196,83687,6435,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-182868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-false-insurance-claims","tag-federal-prison","tag-investigators","tag-loan-applications","tag-mohamad-jihad-fakih","tag-rolls-royce","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}