Odometer Tampering Case:

Most recent update 12/14/07 (See end of document)

7/27/07 Update:

United States v. Mikhail Gokhman, Yan Hershman, Edvard Khakhan, 2:07-cr-00017 (E.D. Pa)

 On January 11, 2007, a federal grand jury in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, returned an indictment charging Mikhail Gokhman, Edvard Khakhan and Yan Hershman with thirty-six felony counts for their participation in an odometer fraud scheme. The indictment charges that Gokhman, Khakhan, and Hershman bought high-mileage vehicles, rolled back the odometer readings on these vehicles, altered the titles to reflect lower-mileage odometer readings, and sold the vehicles at wholesale automobile auctions, directly to automobile dealers, and on Internet auction websites. The indictment charges the men with conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and giving false odometer statements. Hershman was also charged with four counts of using a fraudulently obtained Social Security number to open bank accounts used in the odometer scheme. A copy of the Indictment can be found here.

On January 31, 2007, Gokhman and Hershman were arrested. Both entered not guilty pleas. Hershman is detained without bond. Gokhman was released on a $250,000 bond.

Khakhan remains at large.

There is no current trial date.

Over 600 owners of vehicles that are linked to this roll-back scheme have been notified under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Also notified were insurance companies and automobile dealers who are victims of the scheme.

A related case, United States v. James Russell Bradbury, 1:CR-05-407 (M.D. Pa.) was resolved and a summary of that case can be viewed under Closed Cases on this website.

12/18/07 Update:

No change in status.

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