CHARLESTON, S.C. — The owner of a Mitsubishi dealership in Charleston, S.C., has filed a lawsuit in federal court against his former general manager and F&I manager, alleging the pair concocted a bank fraud scheme that led to the store’s closure, according to The Post and Courier.

Hoover Mitsubishi has been shuttered since June, when the FBI raided the dealership. Criminal charges against the dealership, its former general manager, Shawn Rustin, and former F&I manager Kentrell Davis have yet to be filed.

In his lawsuit, Mark Hoover, owner of the dealership’s parent company, CarFare Charleston LLC, claims Rustin and Davis conspired to falsify an undisclosed number of auto loan applications with nonexistent trade-ins and down payments, inflated incomes, and fake utility bills.

Hoover said he was tricked into personally signing off on loan documents to perpetuate the scheme, said to have extended over a five-year period leading up to the raid.

“Filing this suit is the right thing to do, given what the Hoover family has learned about the defendants,” Hoover said. 

To read the Post and Courier article, click here.