major fraud in the classic porsche business in Germany

[rhegra]

https://www.bild.de/regional/nordrhe...3916.bild.html

[StephenAcworth]

The Bild article from February 13 2024:

Porsche: Plastic surgeon accused of vintage car forger

Aachen/Düsseldorf (NRW) – It's about a few million euros, outrageously expensive historic racing cars and gang-like fraud in the finest circles. Among those charged is a prominent Düsseldorf cosmetic surgeon.

The case has preoccupied the judiciary for almost six years. A first trial began in 2022, but had to be canceled because the main defendant was not fit to stand trial. Now there will be a new attempt on Wednesday next week (February 21st).

The sports car restorer Uwe N. (53) from Aachen (NRW) is accused of, among other things, fraud and forgery of documents. He is said to have recreated and sold historic racing cars, such as those from the 1960s, and presented fake documents. Co-defendants are the ex-Porsche employee and racing driver Jürgen B. (76) - and the Düsseldorf beauty doc Dr. Afshin Fatemi (49)

Million dollar loan thanks to James Dean Porsche

It should, among other things, provided a presumably unfinished replica of a Porsche 550 Spyder (James Dean Porsche) from the 1950s as 2.9 million as security for a 3.4 million loan at a bank. This is also why the loan was approved at the time. Dr. Fatemi already denied all allegations back then: “I have not committed any forgery of documents, and the accusation of fraud is also completely baseless and groundless.”

The public prosecutor's office was apparently not convinced. According to the prosecution, the three men are said to have sold replicas of historic Porsche racing cars as real classics. Other customers are said to have known that they were counterfeits. A total of 21 cases are listed. The accused ex-Porsche employee, who had access to the car manufacturer's archive, is said to have provided information about cars that are no longer in use in order to then transfer their data to the replicas.

The case was discovered after a tip-off about events at the Düren Road Traffic Office. A certain employee there is always said to have registered the counterfeit sports cars. In the new trial before the Aachen regional court, buyers of the supposedly genuine classic cars should also be heard as witnesses.

[RSTarga]

This reminds me of an old Mexican joke, based after a rumor that Pancho Villa's head had gone missing after his death.
A morbid collector buys what he believes is Pancho's skull from a black marketeer.
A few weeks later he finds that the marketeer is again selling a skull, but much smaller.
He confronts the marketeer and the marketeer responds "this skull is from when Pancho was a child"

[bob joyce]

kinda like the short block i bought
pistons, cylinders, cam, all new
when i checked it out, the cam was worn out and motor had about 85 pounds compression
the explanation amounted to ..."new to you"

[Marek]

so how did it go today , Could see kukuk laura was there but she did not say anything about the courtcase

M

[StephenAcworth]

She just made a post on Instagram but doesn't mention anything specific ...

[Biancaneve]

She just made a post on Instagram but doesn't mention anything specific ...

This is what she answered to me: "... this is the pick-up of the start in 2021 ... no decision yet ... more appointments coming up ... "

[rhegra]

Today the trial was restarted in Aachen, with Porsche (due to the infringement of trademark rights by the "replicas") as a co-plaintiff, as the Aachener Newspaper writes. The new edition of the trial began the same way the first one ended: with an hour-long reading of the long indictment, which lists 22 cases. The list of crimes is long, from serious fraud to forgery of documents and even violation of trademark law. In addition to the 53-year-old from Aachen, a 52-year-old doctor from Düsseldorf and a 76-year-old Porsche racing car expert are also charged. Among other things, the doctor is said to have had a 911 counterfeited, which, according to the prosecution, he later wanted to sell for a profit as the original. The Porsche expert, also an author and former Le Mans winner, is said to have obtained data for the forgeries. For the latter, his defense attorney immediately launched into a brilliant counter-speech. The indictment is a “compilation of allegations and conjectures.” The investigators did poor research - and the bottom line is that his client's excellent reputation has already been damaged. According to the Aachener Zeitung, the question of when a classic car is actually “counterfeit” will ultimately be exciting. What percentage would have to be original? What percentage are likely to be original replacement parts? This topic was also touched on at the start, and the lawyers argued that there were no historic racing cars that were 100 percent original. The trial, which only takes place half a day because of the main defendant's still poor health, will continue on Thursday. Among other things, with an expert on the same health issue.
More to follow...

[911MRP]

I didn’t know until reading this that Porsche is listed as a plaintiff but assuming what is posted is factually correct and an accurate translation it is interesting one of the accused (while not named) is clearly a high profile ex-employee racer and author so reasonable to assume Porsche taking a position as a plaintiff with him being among the people facing the allegation / charges wasn’t a decision AG leadership and its lawyers made lightly even though they would need to act to defend copyright ?

Steve

[one-two]

Just curious. Is this a criminal trial? If so, in what way would Porsche be a co-plaintiff? Thanks