CA Lambo Dealer Bilked VW Finance Out of $24 Million

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

You may recall the story wherein two swanky Lamborghini dealerships—Lamborghini of Orange County and Lamborghini of Calabasas—suddenly closed their doors. Needless to say, the collapse involved a little “creative accounting.” It can now be revealed [by the LA Times] that dealer principle, Viken Keuylian, 45, of Laguna Hills, borrowed $12M from Volkswagen Finance to personally purchase 54 examples of VW’s Italian supercars. Keuylian then spent the money, put the cars on his lot, sold them for $8,163,275 and spent that money too. Vineyard. Lotus dealership (talk about a sinkhole). Gas for HIS Lambo. The girls above. That sort of thing. Simple math reveals that the grifter liberated $20,723,589 from VW and Lambo customers. Obviously, Keuylian will soon be contemplating his crimes from a jail cell. But the big question: will VW go after his customers, demanding they pay the “real” price for their car or cars? It’s highly unlikely. But even so, VW Financial’s credibility and profitability have taken a major ding.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

More by Robert Farago

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 9 comments
  • Nick Nick on Mar 12, 2009

    Rockin' bodies (the models) but they look a bit skanky. An indication of what Lamborghini's downmarket Gallardo has done for them. You should see the greasy guys that drive these (in Toronto anyway).

  • John Horner John Horner on Mar 12, 2009

    The buyers should be ok. Reading the LA Times piece, it sounds like a standard floor-plan deal, in which case the lender doesn't actually put a lien against the title of the vehicle. Selling cars but then failing to pay off the underlying floor plan debt is one of the most common cheats in the business, and has been for decades. High spending swindlers like this guy have, IMO, caused most of the current financial crisis.

  • Creamy Creamy on Mar 12, 2009

    @Landcrusher - see? i never woulda thought of that. guess that's why i never embezzle large amounts of money. whenever i move i remember to change the address with usps, turn on the utilities, get an internet connection, but i never remember to find a new drug dealer. i should make a more complete to-do list.

  • MagMax MagMax on Mar 12, 2009

    Robert, Remember that the man who owns the dealership is your pal, so, on principle he's the dealer principal. :-))

Next