Courts and Law Brooklyn Boro

Brooklyn car dealer sentenced for odometer tampering

June 30, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Hon. Kiyo A. Matsumoto. Photo by Jennifer MacFarlane
U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, EDNY. Eagle file photo by Jennifer MacFarlane
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On Monday, in Brooklyn Federal Court, Brooklyn used car dealer Shmuel Gali was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto to 60 months’ imprisonment for his role in a long-running odometer tampering and money laundering scheme. He was also ordered to pay $3,936,000 in restitution. 

Gali pleaded guilty in August 2020 to conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit odometer tampering, making false odometer statements and securities fraud.

Between 2006 and June 2011, Shmuel Gali, while conspiring with his brother Chaim, defrauded buyers of used motor vehicles by misrepresenting the mileage of approximately 690 vehicles that they sold. 

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They used fictitious dealer names to purchase high mileage, used motor vehicles from a national vehicle leasing company, altered the odometers of the vehicles to reflect false, lower mileages, and then sold the vehicles at wholesale automobile auctions. 

On average, the odometers on the vehicles were rolled back by close to 70,000 miles. Consumers who purchased the vehicles at dealerships did not know the true mileage and paid inflated sales prices.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Jacquelyn Kasulis. Photo courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Justice

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Brian M. Boynton, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, and Thomas Fattorusso, acting special agent in charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announced the sentence.

“The sentence sends a warning that this Office will prosecute those who engage in odometer tampering and deliberately dupe consumers into unknowingly paying inflated prices for their motor vehicles,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis. 

“An automobile is one of the biggest purchases many consumers make,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Boynton. “Misrepresenting used car mileages defrauds buyers and hides important information concerning safety and reliability.” 

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Catherine M. Mirabile of the Eastern District of New York and Senior Litigation Counsel Linda I. Marks of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch prosecuted the case.


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