Norman Car Execs Convicted in $Million Wire Fraud Scheme

Three Norman car dealership executives are headed for federal prison after a jury convicted them of orchestrating a sprawling wire fraud conspiracy that defrauded lenders of millions. BOBBY CHRIS MAYES, 49, CHARLES GOOCH, 63, and COURTNEY WELLS, 36—all residents of Norman, Oklahoma—were found guilty on November 19, 2021, of multiple counts including wire fraud, conspiracy, issuing forged securities, and aggravated identity theft, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The scheme ran from January 2014 to March 2019, centered on Big Red Dealerships—a cluster of auto sellers that included Big Red Sports/Imports, Big Red Kia, Norman Yamaha, Norman Mitsubishi, and Mayes Kia. As co-owners, Mayes, Gooch, and Wells exploited their positions to falsify loan documents, fabricate down payments, and forge customer signatures, all to secure inflated loan proceeds from unsuspecting lenders. The indictment, returned September 16, 2020, detailed how the trio lied about the source and amount of down payments and even bribed at least one loan officer to push through questionable deals.

At trial, prosecutors laid bare the mechanics of the fraud. The dealerships targeted customers with poor credit, then invented down payments—internally dubbed ‘King Cash’—that never existed. In one brazen scam, they fabricated pawned-item down payments through Norman Pawn & Gun, a shell pawn shop owned by Gooch and housed in a building owned by Mayes. Though the shop never opened or employed staff, it was used to justify down payments for at least 519 customers. Checks were cut to borrowers, forged by dealership employees, and deposited into Big Red accounts to launder the funds.

Trade-ins were just as phony. On 542 occasions, the dealerships reported trade-in vehicles that never changed hands. Unbeknownst to lenders, the same vehicles were later resold to customers for just $1. Lenders were also duped into approving loans for two to three times a car’s actual value, thanks to fake invoices and cash bribes passed to a loan officer by a Big Red manager. When one lender began investigating the fake down payments in late 2014, Mayes responded by emailing threats to the lender’s CEO in an attempt to shut down the inquiry.

The jury convicted all three defendants on Count 1: conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Mayes and Gooch were each found guilty on 12 counts of wire fraud tied to specific customers (Counts 2–13). Wells was convicted on six of those counts. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine. The verdict followed a trial that began November 2, 2021, before Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot, and featured testimony from 12 customers, former employees, and lender representatives.

The case shines a harsh light on systemic corruption in the auto financing industry. Federal authorities are sending a message: fraud dressed up as business will be met with federal charges. Sentencing for Mayes, Gooch, and Wells is pending, but with over a dozen felony convictions between them, decades behind bars loom as a real possibility. The DOJ’s takedown of Big Red Dealerships marks one of the most significant financial crime prosecutions in Oklahoma in recent years.