Auto dealer tagged as major drug ring player
Lolita Harper
A luxury car dealership owner whose arrest on suspicion of
conspiracy Wednesday caused a circus at his Harbor Boulevard business
was a key player in a major Riverside drug ring, federal drug
enforcement officials said Thursday.
Nader Amirvand, the owner of Auto Market of Orange County, helped
launder drug money for a five-lab methamphetamine ring based in of
San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said Jose Martinez, a special
agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Martinez said Amirvand sold his extravagant inventory, which
included Lamborghinis and Ferraris, to known drug lords and then
falsified their identities on state-required paperwork or would
neglect to submit the proper reports. Drug lords would wash their
dirty money by spending large amounts of it in one place, such as
buying a $300,000 Lamborghini from the dealership, Martinez said.
“This is an essential part of the operation,” Martinez said. “If
you can’t move your money, you can’t invest it. You must convert your
money to at least have the appearance of legitimacy.”
Drug enforcement agents, in collaboration with Riverside police
and sheriff’s deputies, seized more than $8.5 million in inventory
from Amirvand’s dealership Wednesday as a result of the arrest.
James Harris, an attorney for the dealership, denied the charges
and defended Amirvand’s integrity. Amirvand has been in business in
Orange County for more than 14 years and was not associated with any
drug lords, he said.
Amirvand’s arrest was just one of 57 in the past year related to
alleged ring leader Carlos Molina, officials said. This bust
uncovered five methamphetamine “super labs,” defined as locations
capable of manufacturing more than five pounds of finished product at
a time, in South Gate and rural portions of San Bernardino and
Riverside counties, Martinez said. Each lab was easily capable of
turning out 100 pounds of drugs at a time, he said.
Agents seized 33 pounds of finished methamphetamine product, eight
pounds of “meth ice” -- methamphetamine in the rock form -- 30,000
tabs of Ecstasy, 196 gallons of meth oil, 100 pounds of ephedrine and
392 pounds of sudephederine in connection to Molina’s alleged ring,
Martinez said.
The seizure of cars from Amirvand’s dealership was one of 13
seizures in connection with the yearlong investigation, Martinez
said. Agents hauled off the entire inventory because the cars are
considered liquid commodities, he said.
Many of the cars are being returned to their rightful owners
because they had no affiliation with the alleged drug ring, officials
said.
“He was doing some legit business, and agents are just starting to
go through all the paperwork to try and identify the legit owners,”
Martinez said.
Heavyweight Mike Tyson stored a fleet of cars at the Costa Mesa
dealership and was recently seen picking up a Lamborghini from his
private collection. Tyson’s representatives would not comment on
Amirvand’s arrest.
* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)
574-4275 or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.
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