Action News Jax has confirmed that a local exotic car dealership is being investigated for fraud.
Action News Jax Investigates ran a story last week when Karma Jacksonville, 11619 Beach Blvd., abruptly shut down.
Police reports state that there are several complaints involving title forgery and fraudulent vehicle sales tied to the business. The report states that vehicles that were not registered in any state were repossessed.
Another report states that a man says he bought a car at Karma and drove it for months until he found out the car was never registered in his name.
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This all comes after a New York television station, WNYT-Albany, contacted Action News Jax when it found out police there are investigating the dealership for potential fraud.
Customers there claimed bank loans related to cars were never paid off.
Shawn Branlund was a technician at Karma Jacksonville. On May 30, He says he reached out to the owner after hearing of potential problems at the Albany location.
“He said to just come in on Monday, and we would talk about it, kind of explain what’s going on,” Branlund said. “On my end, I did come in on Monday to hopefully talk to the owner, Val, who never showed up, never got a hold of him. We ended up getting all our equipment out, just our personal belongings.”
Karma opened in Jacksonville in 2022. According to Sun Biz, it is owned by Vladimir “Val” Ranguelov, who also owns Bul Auto Sales in Albany, New York.
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