KENOSHA, WI (WTAQ) – A former Kenosha couple is facing federal charges, for allegedly avoiding sales taxes in a scheme that involved the buying and exporting of luxury cars.
Mao Peng and his wife Min Ai were both arrested March 10th by the Secret Service at a restaurant in Los Angeles. Both are 25.
They were expected to return to Wisconsin to face wire fraud charges.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the couple avoided over a half-million dollars in taxes, by using the names of Wisconsin Indians — mainly from the Oneida tribe — as straw buyers for many of the vehicles that were purchased.
Tribal members on reservations do not pay sales taxes for items they buy there.
The court records mentioned 150 vehicles costing over $9 million. The Journal Sentinel said the scheme appeared to involve over 100 straw buyers of 400 luxury vehicles, which were later exported to China where they can be sold for three times as much as in the U.S.
Also, Peng is charged with identity theft. The affidavit reportedly mentioned that over 70 cars had straw buyers who did not grant permission to use their names.
One Native American straw buyer reportedly said a half-dozen cars were bought in his name in 2012, and he never knew it — and one car was bought when he was in jail.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
