Last week we reported that the owner of the dealership where Melissa Gorga leased (and returned?) her Bentley – and presented her business proposals! – was accused of scamming clients.
Bobby Khan, owner of Ramsay, NJ’s Emporio Motor Group, who appeared on Real Housewives Of New Jersey alongside Melissa and Joe Gorga, is now the subject of a formal investigation based on the allegations that he was running a fraudulent consignment business with luxury cars and their owners.
Several car owners accused Mr. Khan of selling their automobiles on consignment, but then never relinquishing the cash – and in some cases the owners were still paying for car loans on vehicles that had been sold to new owners because Mr. Khan was not transferring the titles. Oops.
As a result of the investigation Emporio is now closed – and Khan has since been evicted from his showroom by his landlord for failure to pay $49,000 in rent! Good thing Melissa and Joe got those Bravo cameras there in time!
The Gorgas were reportedly trading the lease (or a discounted lease) of their Bentley in exchange for getting Bobby to appear on RHONJ.
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According to clients Bobby Khan had quite the savvy scam operating. “Khan would say their car had sold on the day their consignment contract expired, or when they called to cancel the contract. He told them car purchases had to be paid in cash or by bank check,” reports North Jersey.com. “In consignment deals, owners gave Khan their cars to sell, with no money changing hands until a buyer has been found and the car sold.”
In other instances Khan would send clients payment checks that bounced, only to blame it on the bank. Other clients report that he would give them FedEx tracking numbers for envelopes supposedly containing checks, only to receive empty envelopes!
Khan also is accused of withholding his true identity from clients by not revealing that his real first name is Afzal – and also concocting a phony backstory. Afzal Khan has quite the history of shady dealings, including nine state or federal tax liens against Khan totaling $231,000, he is also the subject of a lawsuit involving a former business partner, and has previous evictions.
Clients report that Bobby Khan reached out to them when he saw them attempting to sell their luxury or collector vehicles on their own and “he seemed like a gentleman.” He would suggest they try a 30 day consignment period with Emporio, selling them on the idea of safety and confidentiality, and was all charm and professionalism. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, what a great dealer,'” reports client William Mataro.
Mataro, who believed he purchased a 2005 Corvette from Bobby, reveals he has lost $26,000 in the deal because that car is apparently still owned by someone else. Mattaro has possession of the vehicle was never given a title, plates, or paperwork verifying that he paid for the car, which means he can’t legally drive it!
Jennifer Pavlik who saw Bobby on RHONJ and decided to visit Emporio even asked for references – she admits that although she received so-called good references she now believes they were lying! “I guess that was a scam, too,” she laments. Khan owes her $38,000 from the Infiniti FX35 SUV he claimed to have sold for her at the end of August. She retains the title, but the car is nowhere to be found. She has hired a private investigator to track down her vehicle and recently learned that someone had requested a duplicate title for the car.
The Ramsey Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office are currently in the process of conducting detailed interviews with Bobby’s customers, and meanwhile the state Motor Vehicle Commission has suspended Emporio’s dealership license. Despite the issues, Bobby is confident he’ll be back in business soon and he will be able to repair his reputation.
“He’s not disappearing. He’s not hiding. He’s trying to spend his time and efforts to address this,” Bobby’s attorney Steve Kalebic told North Jersey.com, adding that they would not address the litany of customer complaints currently being investigated.
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
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