Chinese Man Says He Was Rolled in the USA

TROY, N.Y. (CN) - A Chinese businessman claims he paid an Upstate car dealer $63,200 for a new Porsche Cayenne, and the Carmax Auto Plaza never delivered it - in fact, never even ordered it from the factory.

Jing Chao sued Carmax Auto Plaza, of Rensselaer, and Farhad "Fred" Sharifpour and Alexander Kocer, in Rensselaer County Supreme Court. Sharifpour and Kocer are "owner, agent, employee and/or shareholder[s]" of the auto dealer, according to the complaint.

Joining as plaintiff with Jing, of the People's Republic of China, are Hao Dong and Jie Bao International Trade.

Hao Dong contacted Carmax in November 2011 in response to an Internet ad for "export of brand new luxury cars overseas," according to the complaint.

Luxury cars cannot be exported to China because of "certain import/export restrictions," Jing says.

But the defendants told Jing's agent, Hao, "that they were able to effect this transfer and export such a vehicle, despite it being a new vehicle and that defendant Carmax was in the business of exporting brand new luxury cars to foreign consumers," the complaint states.

So the plaintiffs wired the defendants a $10,000 down payment on Dec. 5, 2011, for a new 2012 Porsche Cayenne Tiptronic. Carmax wrote in a Feb. 27, 2010 email that the car had arrived, so the plaintiffs wired it another $53,202.20, for payment in full, according to the complaint.

Jing claims the defendants "refused to deliver the aforementioned Porsche and stated that an unidentified employee had absconded with the plaintiff's money," the complaint states.

That's your problem, the plaintiffs say. They claim the defendants refuse to deliver the car and refuse to return the money.

They also claim that Carmax never even ordered the Porsche from the factory, that it's not an authorized Porsche dealer, and that it knew it could not export a new Porsche to China.

They want their money back, and damages for fraud and conversion.

They are represented by Jonathan Schopf with The Vencelette Law Firm, of Albany.

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