A Las Vegas repair-shop owner, Khaldoun Ezam, was arrested this week after Nevada DMV investigators said he used forged paperwork to seize a customer’s BMW through a phony lien sale, then pushed the title through relatives. When DMV staff examined the recovered car, they reported that the engine the shop claimed to have replaced had never been touched, and the vehicle has since been returned to its owner. Court records show Ezam has posted bail and is due back in court next month.
According to investigators, the case started when the customer dropped the BMW off at Star Auto Care in August, and by November the vehicle had been legally seized and sold after the shop submitted a lien-sale packet claiming the owner failed to pay for an engine replacement. Chief JD Decker of the Nevada DMV Compliance Enforcement Division told investigators the customer said he never authorized the work. The DMV tracked and recovered the car, then traced title transfers first to the shop owner’s brother and then to the owner’s wife, as reported by FOX5.
Nevada law allows repair shops and tow companies to apply to seize ownership through the DMV lien-sale process when repair bills go unpaid, but the process requires specific notices, timelines and documentation before title can legally change hands. Those procedures are set out in state statute and administrative rules governing lien sales and abandoned-vehicle dispositions. See the Nevada Revised Statutes for the statutory framework around lien sales. Nevada Revised Statutes
DMV Investigators Say Engine Swap Story Fell Apart
DMV investigators who examined the recovered BMW say the engine had never been replaced and did not need replacement, and Chief JD Decker said the shop owner’s account amounted to a “fictitious story” about nonpayment. The department arrested Khaldoun Ezam and says he faces forgery and theft charges, and Decker added that the agency is probing four other lien cases filed by the same shop, according to FOX5.
DMV Has Seen This Kind Of Lien Play Before
The DMV has pursued similar lien-sale schemes before. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on an earlier case in which investigators said falsified work orders and fraudulent title requests were used to obtain ownership of vehicles and led to criminal arrests. That prior enforcement underscores why the Compliance Enforcement Division says it is focused on vehicle-fraud investigations. Las Vegas Review-Journal…