Champion Porsche Plans to Reimburse Scam Victims
Roughly two dozen customers were scammed out of $2.5 million, but can expect reimbursements starting next week.
When one of your employees commits fraud on a massive scale, it’s easy to play ignorant. Which is exactly what Champion Porsche of Pompano Beach, Florida did after their vice president of marketing, Shiraaz Sookralli, disappeared with $2.5 million in customer deposits on rare and limited edition Porsche vehicles. It was only then that everyone learned what was really going on. That money, it turns out, was going right into Sookralli’s account under the guise of a shell company he created.
While we’ll probably never know the whole truth behind this shocking story, it does appear that the largest U.S. Porsche dealership by volume is going to make things right. According to Automotive News, Champion has agreed to reimburse those millions to the nearly two dozen customers who were duped into thinking their money was going to secure an actual car.
Roy Diaz, the dealership’s lawyer, told Automotive News that Champion wants to “make sure that these victims–that’s what we’re calling them–come out of this from a customer satisfaction perspective as satisfied as possible.” The dealer hopes to have these refunds in the hands of affected customers by October 12. Some customers are also working to apply those funds to deposits on other new vehicles.
Diaz’s firm is still working to finalize terms of the agreement. And the hopes are that Champion will only need to advance these refunds. The dealer is hoping to then recoup those funds through a pending lawsuit against Sookralli. To this point, however, the rogue employee’s whereabouts are still a mystery. Interestingly enough, however, it does appear that Champion has been in contact with Sookralli. According to legal documents, that happened via email at least once since his disappearance.
If nothing else, it’s good to see that Champion is taking the high road here. Even though they didn’t necessarily have to, at least from a legal standpoint. But as damaging as an incident like this could be to their previously strong reputation, it’s definitely the right thing to do.
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