NYC man from China sentenced for helping steal 6 luxury cars from Greenwich dealership

Lei Zhou, 43, received a 3.5-year prison sentence in Hartford Wednesday for using personal info from identity theft victims to acquire at least six luxury cars.

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Chinese man living in New York City who stole from a Greenwich car dealership received a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence in a Hartford federal courtroom Wednesday.

Lei Zhou, who also goes by “Lei Lei,” 43, is a citizen of China, who legally lives in Flushing, a neighborhood in New York City’s Queens borough.

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According to a report Thursday from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Lei pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and another count of aggravated identity theft.

Prosecutors proved in federal court that Lei helped execute a series of vehicle thefts from a Greenwich car dealership by using personal information taken from different victims of identity theft.

Court documents and statements show that Zhou and his accomplices used stolen personal or financial information and stolen or counterfeit identity cards from numerous victims of identity theft to facilitate the scheme.

They then applied for and received loans to purchase or lease at least six luxury vehicles with a total retail value of more than $650,000 from the Greenwich car dealership.

These vehicles were then taken to New York, where Zhou and the co-conspirators tried reselling them.

For example, on Oct. 4, 2022, Zhou used a stolen identity to acquire $114,175 in financing to buy a 2021 Chevrolet Corvette from the dealership in Greenwich.

In this case, Zhou submitted a fraudulent $14,000 check in the name of another identity theft victim as a down payment to secure the transaction. He then took the Corvette to New York to be resold.

Fortunately, prosecutors said most of the vehicles were repossessed before they were illegally sold off.

The report notes that Zhou was ultimately arrested on Aug. 30, 2024. He has been detained since.

Prosecutors added that Zhou’s criminal history in the U.S. already includes state and federal convictions.

For instance, he was previously convicted of menacing with a weapon, aggravated harassment and attempted robbery.

He was also federally convicted in the Southern District of New York for trafficking methamphetamine.

Zhou’s current case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with help from the Greenwich Police Department and New York City Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena Coronado led the prosecution.

Dalton Zbierski is a digital editor and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.

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