Andy House, the exotic car salvage yard owner that crashed his Bugatti Veyron into a Texas lake, has pled guilty to wire mail fraud in federal court, and now he's facing up to 20 years in prison for what basically amounts to insurance fraud.
House purchased the Veyron in 2009 for $1 million and subsequently had it insured for $2.2 million. On November 11 of that year, he drove the Bugatti into Gulf Bay outside of La Marque, Texas, to avoid a low flying pelican. Unfortunately for House, the crash was caught on video with no sign of aviary intervention.
House later claimed that he dropped his phone, causing him to lose control, but according to information presented in court, House purposefully ran the Veyron into the water and left the motor running, resulting in a total loss of the supercar.
Philadelphia Insurance later sued Mr. House for insurance fraud, and the lawsuit also claimed he attempted to bribe someone to steal the car and torch it to collect the insurance money. The fraud trial was postponed in October of 2012 for unknown reasons.
Today's guilty plea by House has him facing up to 20 years in federal prison, although a sentencing date hasn't been set.