Two Miami Men Sentenced in $4.6 Million Auto Loan Scam

Cesar Alejandro Cespedes Jordan and Javier Calunga were each sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and 150 hours of community service for their role in an auto loan scam that resulted in more than $1 million in losses. In addition, both were sentenced to several months of house arrest and ordered to pay restitution to victims.

Jordan and Calunga, recruited approximately 20 victims with good credit to purchase vehicles to rent on the car sharing platform, Turo.com through their company, Venom Luxury Rentals Corp. They allegedly told victims that every car generated between $5,000 - $8,000 a month, and that the company would pay for all expenses associated with maintaining the vehicles, including loan payments. 90 vehicles were purchased by the victims at a value of approximately $3.3 million, and Jordan and Calunga rented out the vehicles for approximately $600,000 in revenue. The victims were promised a 50/50 split of any profits, but did not receive any payments. Loan payments were initially made but quickly stopped. In addition to returning the vehicles to the lender, many of the straw buyers ended up paying towing fees, toll fees, and some even had to file for bankruptcy protection.