Burlington County Car Dealer Admits Defrauding DoD: FBI

A Burlington County man has admitted to his role in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Hurriyet Arslan, 49 of Willingboro, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud, one count of bank fraud and one count of money laundering.

Conspirators from other countries designed and deployed fraudulent web pages designed to look like the public-facing website of the General Service Administration, according to documents filed in the case and statements made in court.

In the summer of 2018, they sent phishing emails to various DoD vendors, including an individual in Fort Lee who worked for a company that had a contract with the DoD to supply jet fuel to troops operating in southeast Asia, according to authorities.

The emails redirected those who opened them to the fraudulent webpages, where they were prompted to enter their log-in credentials and personal key, according to authorities. That company was awarded a $23.5 million contract from DoD to provide Aviation JA1 Turbine fuel to troops operating in southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, a German company approached Arslan, who owned a used car dealership in Florence, about opening a shell company in New Jersey to assist with the scheme, authorities said.

Arslan sent the mobile phone SIM card and bank account information associated with the shell company to a co-conspirator in California, according to authorities. In exchange, Arslan received two wire transfers from a co-conspirator in Turkey, according to authorities.

However, the bank became suspicious and closed the account, according to authorities. The co-conspirator asked Arslan for the account information for his used car dealership, which he provided, authorities said.

The conspirators were able to use the previously-referenced Fort Lee man’s log-in credentials to access his company’s government account, authorities said. They then changed the bank account information to reflect a bank account controlled by Arslan, according to authorities.

The co-conspirator in California then contacted DoD pretending to be the man from Fort Lee and confirmed that the company’s payment method had been changed to the bank account for Deal Automotive Sales, which was the car dealership Arslan owned.

DoD transferred $23.5 into Arslan’s Deal Automotive Sales bank account. Arslan then accessed that account from a branch in Burlington County. He then transferred a portion of the money to other accounts he controlled, authorities said.

The counts of conspiracy and bank fraud to which Arslan pleaded guilty carry a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine equal to the greatest of $1 million or twice the gross profits received or gross loss from the offense.

The count of money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or two times the gross profits received from the offense or two times the gross loss sustained by the victims. Sentencing is scheduled for April 13.