2 charged in $10-million luxury car scheme

A luxury Great Neck automobile dealer and an associate were charged Friday in a $10-million scheme that cheated more than 50 wealthy clients who purchased upscale cars, federal prosecutors said.

The victims included former Islander center Mike Comrie, who is married to actress Hilary Duff; and current Islander Mark Streit, according to sources familiar with the case.

The dealer, Rick Abraham Cohen, of the now-defunct North Shore Motor Group at 175 E. Shore Rd., pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in federal court in Central Islip to charges of conspiracy and bank, mail and wire fraud.

Cohen, who according to FBI documents has also been identified as R.A. Cohen and Richard Abraham Cohen, of Great Neck, worked essentially as an automobile broker who ostensibly got the best deals on such expensive cars as Mercedes-Benzes, Ferraris, and Porsches for rich people looking for particular models, sources said.

Frances Obeda, 57, of Brooklyn, Cohen's alleged associate in the scheme, also pleaded not guilty to charges.

Cohen's attorney, Joseph Conway, and Obeda's, Randi Chavis, both declined to comment, as did prosecutor Christopher Ott.

Ritch Winter, Comrie's agent, also would not comment. Streit's agent could not be reached.

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Officials stressed that none of the victims were aware of the alleged scheme. Cohen used two primary techniques, according to court papers filed by an FBI agent.

In one, he allegedly promised that as part of the overall deal, he would use the sale proceeds to pay off remaining loans on traded-in vehicles. But he didn't, and pocketed the cash instead.

In the second, it was charged, he told buyers they would get a better deal financing their purchase with a short-term loan. But he gave them papers for long-term loans and then pocketed the loan amount -- never passing on loan payments or telling the victims that they still owed money on the loans. He changed the victims' addresses to his business address so that dunning letters from finance companies demanding payments never reached the victims, the court papers said.

Some of the victims' cars were actually repossessed but they were too embarrassed to complain to authorities. Cohen, meanwhile, kept stalling, claiming it was all a mistake, and that he would rectify the situation, the sources said. Other victims are being sued by the credit companies involved in their purchases, the sources said.

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Comrie was victimized by Cohen in the loan scheme when he paid $100,000 in cash for a Mercedes; Streit, when he paid $60,000 in cash for a Porsche and $70,000 for a Mercedes, the sources said.

U.S. Magistrate E. Thomas Boyle released Cohen and Obeda each on $100,000 bail. If convicted, they face 9 to 11 1/2 years in prison, sentencing guidelines suggest.