Just a quick recap for those who haven't been following this, Eleanor-duplicate maker Unique Performance was raided after customer complaints. During the raid police noticed missing VIN numbers on many cars, indicating title washing. The company then filed for bankruptcy so it wouldn't have to pay employees or customers. And they may have also used prison labor illegally. So, yeah, we still think someone is going to jail.

[CBS-11 via 67mustangblog]

There have been a lot of claims made back and forth, including the recent news about Unique Performance using prison labor to possibly replace valid VIN numbers. It's unclear what the 25 charges are, but the DA is going to have to determine what is worth taking to a grand jury (though grand juries have a habit of voting in the affirmative) and what's worth starting a case over.

We can debate whether using 13 gallons of Bondo, Taiwanese parts and prison labor is a normal or abnormal practice when building $200,000 cars, but there has to be legal merit to the case. Where this case may have merit is that, in addition to taking people's money and not delivering cars, certain promises or advertisements were likely made about the quality and hand-built nature of the cars. If that's the case, and we assume it is since people forked over all that dough, the DA might have an easy way of proving fraud and deceptive business practices. The prison labor and suspected title washing is a bonus, as there's likely a trail of evidence if it turns out that what they did was in violation of existing Texas laws.

Federal investigators have also submitted cases to the US Attorney's office, giving this case a federal aspect. What federal laws were violated are unclear, though we do know the cars were sourced from other states and brought into Texas, which likely plays into it. The Secret Service involvement, and the claim of three suspects, is interesting. The Secret Service is the law enforcement arm of the Dept. of the Treasury and also has jurisdiction over certain types of fraud, mostly involving the transfer of money.

Either way, there are still many questions to be answered. If we were Unique Performance owner Doug Hasty we'd be worried. We see it as likely that Hasty may be pressured into some kind of plea bargain unless he's 100% convinced of his own innocence or the DA's case is so strong they don't feel like they need to do it. Of course, settling on charges with the Dallas County DA doesn't create an exemption from federal charges.

We'll let you know when the parties involved are formally charged.

[CBS-11 via 67 Mustang Blog]

History

After the success of Gone In 60 Seconds, Unique Performance with the blessing of Carroll Shelby started building "Eleanor" replicas. Turns out that most of those replicas may have been built with salvage or otherwise questionably titled Mustangs and, despite taking huge deposits, weren't being delivered. After being raided by police and shut down, the company filed for bankruptcy and refused to pay Unique Performance employees. That's where we stood before these latest revelations.

Statement From Doug Hasty's Lawyer

Every customer that has received a car has ultimately been satisfied with the quality of the car they received. Farmers Branch Police are continuing their witch hunt. They continue to leak false accusations to the press knowing that we have not had an opportunity to have access to the cars to rebut their claims. There were no title issues or criminal problems with the titles and no one has been defrauded. We are eager to address these cases in a court of law, on the record, where people will have to be responsible for their conduct. And I'm referring specifically to the Farmers Branch Police Department.

Special thanks to 67Mustangblog for following the story so closely. [All information via CBS-11 TV]