FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – A Farmington Hills man is headed to prison for a vehicle title scheme.
Court records show that Solomon Israel, 60, ran a business that fraudulently retitled vehicles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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The scheme involved obtaining fraudulant Michigan titles to get "free and clear” ownership of vehicles that actually had third-party security interests from financing companies. According to court records, Israel would travel out-of-state and obtain new titles to remove the security interests from the vehicles. This caused financing companies to lose thousands of dollars.
Israel is accused of falsely assuming the identity of an incarcerated man in Ohio during the scheme. According to officials, he used that identity to engage in illicit banking transactions. He received convictions for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result.
Israel was sentenced to nine years, eight months in prison.
“Our office is committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting fraud in all of its forms,” said Matthew Schneider, United States Attorney. “Whether the victims are government authorities, private companies or other individuals, we’ll hold criminals accountable when they choose to lie and cheat for their own financial gain.”