Summary

On June 14, Hassan Ali Raza of Sandy Springs, Georgia, was ordered by a U.S. District Court judge in Atlanta, Georgia, to serve three years and five months in prison and to pay $3,698,244 in restitution to 23 consumers he defrauded through the illegal importation of luxury automobiles. As part of his guilty plea on March 9, Raza admitted to importing luxury vehicles from Germany, including seven Ferrari sports cars and a Mercedes-Benz coupe, by: (1) falsely declaring that the vehicles already met NHTSA and Environmental Protection Administration standards; or (2) claiming that the vehicles were exempt from U.S. standards because they were owned by visiting foreign nationals. As a result, victims received contraband automobiles that they could not title, could not drive and that required tens of thousands of dollars to bring into compliance with U.S. safety and emission standards. This case was investigated with the Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and EPA OIG, with assistance from NHTSA.