Florida Porsche salesman duped buyers out of $2.2 million for cars he never delivered, feds say
A former salesman for a South Florida Porsche dealership was arrested Tuesday on charges of selling rare, non-existent Carrera 911 models to more than 30 customers who paid him $2.2 million in deposits towards the “bogus” sales, federal authorities said.
Shiraaz Sookralli carried out the alleged scam in 2017 while he was working at Champion Porsche, owned by Copans Motors in Pompano Beach.
Sookralli, 44, of Plantation, made his first appearance on mail- and wire-fraud charges in federal court in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday and has a bond hearing set for Friday. His defense attorney, Howard Schumacher, said his client, who is married and has 10 children, should qualify for a bond because he has strong ties to the community. Sookralli plans to plead not guilty at his upcoming arraignment.
According to an FBI criminal complaint, Sookralli established a shell company with a name similar to Champion Porsche to trick potential customers from across the country into buying highly sought-after Carrera 911 models. His customers sent him deposits for the bogus sales but he never delivered the exotic cars, the complaint said.
The buyers trusted him as a longtime employee at Champion Porsche — dazzled by his pitch for the yet-to-be-built Porsche vehicles, according to federal prosecutor Roger Cruz. Champion Porsche did not authorize any of his transactions.
Sookralli blew a lot of the Porsche customers’ deposits on luxury vehicles, jewelry, nightclubs and restaurants, according to authorities.
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 7:17 PM.
