display
Aachen / Sachsenheim (dpa / lsw) - After two years of investigation, the Aachen public prosecutor's office has brought charges against three men for fraud involving millions of expensive vintage cars, especially those of the sports car manufacturer Porsche.
The main defendant is a 49-year-old sports car restorer, a spokesman for the Aachen regional court confirmed on Tuesday.
The other defendants are a 49-year-old from Düsseldorf and a 72-year-old former Porsche employee from Sachsenheim (Ludwigsburg district), who is said to have contributed insider knowledge such as old chassis numbers.
Several media had previously reported.
The main defendant from Aachen is said to have built sports cars from chassis and parts, issued them as expensive oldtimers with forged papers and reports, and sometimes sold them for sums of millions.
According to the indictment, nine sports and racing cars with false legends were sold as original classic cars to mostly bona fide customers, said the court spokesman.
There are also other cases that have not been concluded.
As actual originals, the cars are of considerable value - an alleged Porsche 908 racing car, for example, was valued at 3.4 million euros.
According to previous investigations, an employee of the Düren Road Traffic Office (North Rhine-Westphalia) is said to have registered the car and thus encouraged the fraud.
Separate proceedings are ongoing against him.
The fraud had come to light because irregularities had been noticed in the Düren road traffic office.
Upon closer examination, it turned out that the suspects were always linked to a specific employee, said the spokesman.