Two Lexington men who took part in scamming luxury car dealerships out of more than $6 million have been sentenced to federal prison terms.
Hussein Qasim, 34, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and his brother Ibramin Qasim, 29, was sentenced to three years and nine months, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell signed an order for Hussein Qasim to pay the government $649,500 and for Ibrahim Qasim to pay $1,280,602, representing the amounts they received in the scam.
Ibrahim Qasim also gave up a 2024 Mercedes Benz GLE Coupe under the order.
The brothers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to court records, they took part in a scam in which people in other countries contacted car dealerships in the U.S., pretending to be employees of dealerships themselves, to discuss sales of luxury cars.
That enabled the scammers to get photos of expensive cars and information such as identification numbers.
The scammers used that information to make deals and sell the cars to other dealerships even though they didn’t own them.
The Qasims took part in the conspiracy by receiving money for the cars in bank accounts in Lexington and then transferring it to others, sometimes using cryptocurrency, according to their plea agreements.
For example, after scammers sold a dealership in Portland a BMW M3 in April 2023, the business sent $350,000 to an account Ibrahim Qasim controlled, according to his plea.
Qasim sent some of the money to co-conspirators and some to another company, took some in cash and used the rest at a casino, according to his plea.
In another case, the scammers used an account Hussein Qasim controlled to receive a $740,000 payment for a Ferrari SF9 in June 2022, according to the court record.
People involved in the conspiracy caused at least 10 dealerships in the U.S. to send money for cars the scammers didn’t own, according to a sentencing memorandum from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn M. Dieruf.
Of those, seven dealerships lost more than $6 million between June 2022 and December 2023, according to the memo.
Some dealerships and banks were able to stop payments or get back money.
When Hussein Qasim learned there was a federal warrant for his brother, he made plans to flee the country, buying a one-way ticket overseas through Turkish Airlines, according to the prosecution memo.
Police arrested him at Chicago O’Hare International Airport when he arrived to get on the flight, the memo said.
Caldwell sentenced the brothers Monday in federal court in Lexington.
