Leonard C Boyle, Acting U.S. District Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JUSTIN WILLIAMS, 42, of Rocky Hill, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to 21 months in jail, followed by five years of probation, for his role in an auto loan fraud scheme. Judge Chatigny ordered Williams to serve the first three months of his supervised release in house arrest and perform 200 hours of community service.

In accordance with the law on aid, relief and economic security against coronaviruses (CARES law), the sentence was pronounced by video conference.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Williams worked as a salesperson and de facto general manager at a used car dealership located at 1075 Newfield Street in Middletown, known as Car Nation, LLC, Car Nation CT, LLC and Middletown Motorcars. , which was owned and operated by George Hajati. In auto loan applications for multiple borrowers, Williams, Hajati, and others submitted documents and statements to victimized lenders that falsely represented employment, salary, sources of income, and the amount of a down payment. of the borrower. The forged documents included fictitious or altered borrower’s pay stubs and income verification letters allegedly from the Social Security Administration. Williams submitted loan applications stating that borrowers were earning wages they did not receive, working at jobs they did not work, receiving Social Security Administration income they did not receive, and paying down payments that they had not paid. In some cases, the borrower was unaware and did not authorize Williams to use their personal identifying information to obtain auto loans in these ways.

Between approximately November 2015 and June 2016, Williams defrauded lenders of $ 264,345.54 through this scheme. He was ordered to pay $ 251,267.08 in restitution.

Williams has previously been convicted of federal fraud charges relating to a Hartford-area scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, and he was at large under federal supervision at the time of his involvement in this auto loan fraud scheme. .

Williams was arrested in connection with a criminal complaint on January 16, 2020. On November 19, 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Williams, who is released on $ 100,000 bail, is due in jail on July 5, 2021.

Hajati pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud arising from this scheme. He was also previously convicted of federal fraud charges related to the Hartford area mortgage fraud scheme and was serving a supervised release sentence. In June 2020, he was sentenced to 27 months in jail and $ 654,952.56 in restitution for his role in the auto loan fraud scheme, and was sentenced to an additional 21 months in jail for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration. The case was continued by US Deputy Prosecutors Conor M. Reardon and David T. Huang.