Michigan Auto Dealer Charged With Fraud After Abduction

Everything started almost 2 years ago when a car dealer from Bay City in Michigan went missing and wasn't found for a month. Upon locating him on a rural roadside they discovered that he was bloodied, and zip tied. He claims that the Mexican cartel was responsible as they had been extorting him for years due to him being a 6-figure poker champion.

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I think this story line might sound familiar to a lot of us, that's because it is. You remember watching that 90s classic Fargo, well this dealer tried to pull a William H. Macy but used himself instead of his wife. 42-year-old George P. Janssen Jr. had his Bay Auto Brokers dealership audited by the state of Michigan due to a fraudulent car loan.

This would lead to the state opening an investigation into Janssen and Bay Auto Brokers. They would find that he had an anonymous donor that gave $700,000 to start the floor plan and Janssen would take cash for inventory and replace it after selling. The movement of the money wasn't suspicious until he vanished from Nov. 13 and resurfaced on Dec. 16, 2023.

He claims that he was held captive in an Ohio basement after he was approached by a masked gunman leaving a poker tournament in Detroit. He says that over time he gave them over $2 million, leaving $25,000 in boxes at various locations. There is no real evidence to support whether the abduction was false or not.

Law enforcement was watching several loans that were going unpaid to Bay Auto Brokers as several different people were acting under the guise of Janssen. The group was able to gather $3.93 million in total from various banks and credit unions.

Investigation Intensifies

Investigators spoke with Janssen's son who said that he would move the money around the accounts with checks and necessary details like the vehicles’ makes, models, and VINs provided to him by his father which he assumed were real even though he never saw them.

It's alleged that Janssen was using several loans on one car without paying off the others first. Others involved began to turn on Janssen and reveal the things he had them doing. One individual took out multiple vehicle loans at Janssen’s request, believing he possessed the vehicles in question. Janssen paid his friend $600 for each loan after the vehicles sold.

The FBI was able to find 20 banks or credit unions that were victims of the fraud and a total loan amount of $3,934,141. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris let Janssen know in Court that he was being charged with financial institution fraud which is a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Janssen was set free on a $10,000 bond and is awaiting his next court date which is pending with no current date set at this time.