A press release from the FBI says, “United States Attorney John E. Murphy announced that in San Antonio this afternoon, a federal jury convicted 49-year-old car dealer Jerry Edward Weaver, of Rowlett, Texas, for his role in a vehicle title washing scheme.”
According to the FBI, ““Title washing” is the fraudulent process through which a vehicle’s title is corruptly altered to conceal information that should normally be contained on the title, such as a previous salvaged title or a financial lienholder. A vehicle that has a “certificate of destruction,” “non-repairable” history, or “parts only” history can only be utilized for parts or scrap metal and can never receive a clean title.”
Also stated in the press release, “Evidence presented during trial revealed that between June 2009 and October 2010, Weaver; co-defendant Babauk Omeed Harizavi, of San Antonio; and others were involved in a scheme to defraud, by requesting and filing fraudulent paperwork with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, to seek clean Texas vehicle titles using the mechanic’s lien process. Upon receipt of the clean Texas vehicle titles, the defendants sold those vehicles to unsuspecting consumers or third parties without disclosing the past “certificate of destruction,” “salvage title,” or “parts only” title histories of those vehicles. Weaver, Harizavi, and their co-defendants are collectively responsible for 613 fraudulently obtained Texas vehicle titles issued by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles based on fraudulently filed mechanic’s liens.”
Read the full press release here, https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/sanantonio/press-releases/2011/jury-convicts-rowlett-car-dealer-in-title-washing-scheme
