Owner Admits Role In Dealerships Fraud Scheme

The owner of a group of prominent car dealerships in Charlotte has agreed to plead guilty to participating in a fraud scheme following a three-year investigation.

Louis F. Harrelson has signed documents to enter a guilty plea in federal court. The documents, which outline his role in a massive scheme to obtain car loans for questionable buyers, were unsealed Monday.

The Harrelson name is plastered on car dealerships stretched up and down South Boulevard. The charges against Harrelson bring to an end an investigation that began when four of his dealerships were swarmed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in 2005

Last year, 10 Harrelson employees were indicted for falsifying loan applications for customers. Court documents state Harrelson was at his dealerships on a daily basis while employees inflated customers' gross income, used fictitious employment histories and grossly inflated trade-in values to ensure those customers would qualify for loans.

Until now, Harrelson’s attorney Pete Anderson has publicly denied any involvement by his client. But Harrelson’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors states, “He knew or should have known of the fraudulent activity . . . and took no steps to curtail it.”

For pleading guilty, Harrelson will get two years of probation and must pay a fine of $1.1 million. The plea agreement states he must also resign from managing any of the dealerships that bear his name and stay away from them during his two years of probation.

Eyewitness News tried to contact Anderson, but the calls were not immediately returned.

A date for Harrelson’s formal guilty plea hasn't yet been set.