A former Cleveland auto dealership operator was sentenced on Tuesday to over three years in federal prison for wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones sentenced 56-year-old Mitch Simpson of Cornelia to three years and five months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The judge also ordered Simpson to pay $105,803.70 in restitution.
Federal prosecutors said Simpson engaged in a fraudulent scheme that resulted in the loss of more than $3 million to floor-plan lenders. Simpson pleaded guilty to the charges in January.
Simpson operated Mitch Simpson Motors from 2012 to 2019. During that time, U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said Simpson stole money from companies that provided floor-plan financing to his used car dealership.
Three floor-plan lenders, Dealer Financial Holdings LLC, Americash Advance, Inc., and Floorplan Xpress, LLC, provided Simpson with a “revolving line of credit” for Simpson to purchase his inventory of vehicles to sell. According to Buchanan, Simpson defrauded the floor-plan lenders by using a single vehicle as collateral for more than one floor-plan loan. This deceptive and illegal practice is referred to in the used-car industry as double floor-planning and triple floor-planning and is prohibited by the financing agreements.
The FBI investigated the case.
“Simpson lied to the very people who were the lifeline to his small business,” said FBI Atlanta Senior Supervisory Resident Agent Mitchell Jackson.
In a news release issued after sentencing, Buchanan said, “Simpson abused his position of trust and hurt the companies that enabled him to operate his business.”
Now Habersham has reached out to Simpson’s attorney for comment.
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Simpson said he ‘takes full responsibility’
Mitch Simpson submitted a pre-sentencing statement to the court on Nov. 6 and expressed “great shame” over the situation. He said he “takes full responsibility” for his actions.
“I cannot fully express the regret that I have for even being involved in this matter. It has been an absolute tragedy for my family and loved ones,” he wrote.
Simpson went on to say, “Life is complicated, and while I think I never intended to cause harm to anyone, now understand how badly I messed up.”
The former used car dealer and well-known radio pitchman said he now sees that there were many opportunities when he should have quit. “I made the horrible mistake of staying because I trusted the people involved.” He did not elaborate on who those people are.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Russell Phillips and former Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. O’Neal prosecuted the case.
Dean Dyer of WRWH Radio contributed to this report
