Court upholds order to hold Major World exec without bail

A federal appeals court in Manhattan has ordered the continued detention without bail of Chris Orsaris, the Major World used-car executive charged in a massive fraud and embezzlement scheme in March.

Orsaris, 37, who was general manager of a Major World dealership in Queens, allegedly siphoned $3 million out of the used-car chain and in a separate scheme ripped off an insurance company.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler, in federal court in Central Islip, ordered Orsaris held without bail April 1 after prosecutors described him as a mob wannabe who consorted with violent criminals and hired drug dealers and other crooks to work at the dealership.

Prosecutors also have moved to have Orsaris forfeit to the government residences he owns in Southampton, Whitestone, Manhattan and Miami Beach, Fla.

In a one-sentence order issued Thursday, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld Wexler's detention order.

A Major World attorney has said that Orsaris had the authority to hire personnel but that the company would not knowingly employ criminals.