Former Car Dealer Who Spent Decades On The Run Pleads Guilty To $50 Million Bank Fraud
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Southern California man who spent nearly three decades on the run has pleaded guilty to defrauding banks out of nearly $50 million while running the nation's third-largest car dealership.
Seventy-one-year-old Eminiano Reodica Jr. entered the plea Monday in Los Angeles to federal charges of bank fraud and lying to banks.
He could face up to 79 years in prison and a $6.5 million fine.
In the 1980s, Reodica ran a company that owned Grand Chevrolet of Glendora.
Authorities say he promised the same car contract to separate banks, repossessed and resold cars without telling the banks, and had employees seek loans for cars they weren't buying.
The dealership went bankrupt in 1988. Reodica fled to his native Philippines. He was arrested in Los Angeles in 2012.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.