Cupertino Couple Caged in $5M Auto Fraud Scheme

Yujen Chen, 61, and Maria Chen, 59, of Cupertino, are headed to federal prison after being sentenced to 75 and 64 months, respectively, for a sprawling wire fraud and identity theft scheme tied to their Sunnyvale auto dealership, 888 Auto Corporation. The couple admitted to defrauding luxury car financing companies and innocent third parties by leasing high-end vehicles under false pretenses and smuggling them overseas—leaving victims holding empty leases and shattered credit.

The Chens recruited friends and associates to sign as lessees on luxury vehicles from Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, and Toyota, promising to cover all payments and absolve the signers of financial liability. Once the vehicles were secured, the couple made only initial payments before falsifying DMV paperwork to transfer titles to shell entities they controlled. They then shipped the cars abroad using freight forwarders and customs documents laced with ‘washed’ titles—phony registrations designed to erase the vehicles’ lease histories.

As the scam unraveled, victims found themselves on the hook for tens of thousands in unpaid lease balances—vehicles gone, credit destroyed. The Chens kept the wheels rolling by exploiting personal identifying information from unsuspecting customers who came in to buy cars legally. Instead of fulfilling sales, the couple pocketed down payments and used the victims’ stolen identities to secure additional fraudulent leases, funneling more luxury cars into their export pipeline.

Charged in a 24-count indictment on November 20, 2013, the Chens each pleaded guilty on December 17, 2015, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and one count of aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. Prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining charges as part of a plea deal, but the damage was done—hundreds of vehicles, millions in losses, lives upended.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila handed down the sentences, adding three years of supervised release for each defendant. A restitution hearing was set for March 2, 2017, to determine compensation for the long trail of individual and corporate victims. The Chens remain free on bond until reporting to prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Kaleba and Jeffrey Nedrow, with investigative support from the IRS, FBI, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Authorities say the Chens’ enterprise was a textbook blend of greed, forgery, and exploitation—a crime ring built on fumes, forged titles, and the trust of the unsuspecting.