A Vermont man has been sentenced to four years in prison for duping Tesla Inc. into delivering five high-end cars to him without payment and then selling three of them at knockdown prices, pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing and disposing of stolen vehicles in April, just days before a trial was set to begin in the case. As part of his plea deal, Gonzalez agreed to pay Tesla $493,000 in restitution and to forfeit his $231,900 in profits to the government. Prosecutors said Tesla delivered the cars and certificates of ownership to Gonzalez in Vermont without waiting for the transactions to be completed. It was not until days later that Tesla received notice that the accounts Gonzalez had provided had insufficient funds.Prosecutors said Gonzalez first hit upon his scheme in September 2018, when he placed an order on Tesla’s website for a $58,000 Model 3.
Over the following year, prosecutors said Gonzalez repeated the scheme four more times, each time for a Model X worth around $150,000. In two cases, he entered the name of a girlfriend or ex-girlfriend as the buyer instead of his own, according to court papers. He was able to sell two of the cars on Craigslist and eBay for $108,000 and $97,000, respectively.