The man at the top of a Calgary-based auto consignment company that defrauded customers and creditors out of $2.2M Is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
Sean O’Brien, who owned TREADZ Auto Group, an auto consignment company that operated from 2011 to 2014, is charged with 164 counts of fraud and theft stemming from numerous complaints from customers that O’Brien took their vehicles and never paid them.
Police investigated 120 complaints and found, in 78 of the cases, the rightful owners were not paid for their vehicles.
Investigators further found that 62 of the vehicles the company took from customers were re-registered in the company’s name using forged documents and then 38 of those were used to secure $484,000 in loans that were never repaid.
Authorities say the victims are out tens of thousands of dollars and are still paying for vehicles that they haven’t seen in years.
On Wednesday morning, a judge decided to put the matter over until September.
If convicted, O’Brien could face 14 years in jail.
The victims are also pursuing legal action against the province’s auto regulator, the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council (AMVIC).
According to the suit, the victims say that AMVIC not only let TREADZ get away with stealing their money and vehicles, but it knew about the situation and failed to take appropriate action or fix problems in the industry.
The victims claim that the provincial regulatory body should have taken action to protect them.
The province is also conducting a full review of AMVIC to determine any wrongdoing on its part.
