Tampa Auto Dealer Sentenced to 54 Months’ Imprisonment for Wire Fraud Conspiracy and Exporting Stolen Vehicle
Tampa, Florida / Monday, March 2, 2026 – Mohamad Jihad Fakih (Tampa, 27) has been sentenced by U.S. Senior District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington to four and a half years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and attempting to export a stolen motor vehicle. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $378,886.96, the proceeds of the conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Fakih was found guilty on August 21, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to court documents, Fakih conspired with others to commit wire fraud by obtaining fraudulent loans from automotive financing companies. Because of Fakih’s role as a car dealer and wholesaler, he had access to a dealership website through which automobile financing applications could be submitted. To facilitate the scheme, Fakih and his coconspirator would identify straw purchasers and submit falsified loan applications to the victim companies on their behalf, misrepresenting that a vehicle was being purchased by the straw purchaser. In reality, there was no vehicle for sale.
After the financing loans were approved, the loan amounts would be disbursed to Fakih as the seller of the vehicle, and his coconspirator and straw purchasers would receive a cut from the proceeds. It was also part of Fakih’s scheme to file false insurance claims for the vehicles, reporting them as stolen. In other instances, Fakih attempted to export vehicles for which he had fraudulently obtained financing and for which the financing company held a lien. In total, Fakih repeated this scheme for at least six vehicles in the amount of at least $372,000.
Additionally, Fakih engaged in more straightforward theft, attempting to export stolen cars overseas. Fakih, using one of the straw purchasers, procured a stolen Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV. He arranged for the Cullinan to be shipped in a container out of the Port of Savannah, the manifest for which had been falsified so as not to alert law enforcement as to its true contents. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized the container and assessed that the stolen Cullinan’s MSRP was approximately $460,000.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Risha Asokan.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida
