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Dealership Employees Arrested for Loan App Fraud

GAINESVILLE, Fla.--FBI agents arrested the owner and six employees of a Gainesville, Fla., dealership March 29. The Grand Jury indictment said the University Mazda team used fraudulent paperwork to get customers more than $3 million in loans.

by Staff
April 12, 2004
1 min to read


GAINESVILLE, Fla.--FBI agents arrested the owner and six employees of a Gainesville, Fla., dealership March 29. The Grand Jury indictment said the University Mazda team used fraudulent paperwork to get customers more than $3 million in loans.


WCJB-TV20 News reported that the FBI investigated University Mazda last year. The bureau said dealership employees conspired to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering.

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The indictment said owner Thomas Sappenfield was fully aware of these activities. When lenders contacted him saying they had received false paperwork, he would tell his employees to send the same paperwork to different lenders.


Investigators believe the fraud began in 2000.

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