logo
The Stolen Ferrari 375 Plus: A Legal Battle Spanning Decades

The Stolen Ferrari 375 Plus: A Legal Battle Spanning Decades

Yahoo13-03-2025

Read the full story on Modern Car Collector
Few cars in history have endured a journey as tumultuous as the Ferrari 375 Plus once owned by Karl Kleve. Designed by Pininfarina in 1954 for the World Sports Car Championship, only five of these iconic race cars were ever built. Yet, one of them—a charred chassis purchased by Kleve in 1958—spent nearly 30 years deteriorating in an open lot in Cincinnati before vanishing in the late 1980s. What followed was a saga of theft, deception, lawsuits, and an eventual record-breaking auction.
Kleve, a collector with an eye for rare cars, bought the damaged Ferrari for $2,500. But in the late 1980s, the vehicle disappeared from his property. It resurfaced across the Atlantic, eventually landing in the hands of Belgian race car driver and Ferrari collector Jacques Swaters. Swaters, believing he had rightfully acquired the car, spent years restoring it to its former glory.
When Kleve discovered his stolen Ferrari on display at Ferrari's Maranello museum in Italy, he launched a legal battle to reclaim his prized possession. In 1999, a disputed settlement was reached in which Swaters reportedly paid Kleve $625,000 for the car. However, Kleve claimed his agent had made the deal without his approval, sparking further litigation.
Following Kleve's death in 2003, his daughters—Katrina English and Karyl Kleve—continued to fight for the car. Meanwhile, a series of dubious legal maneuvers took place, with individuals such as Joseph Ford and Christopher Gardner inserting themselves into the case. Ford, later accused of fraud, managed to extract a significant sum from the Ferrari's eventual sale.
A crucial ruling came in 2013 when an English court determined that Florence Swaters, daughter of Jacques Swaters, held the title to the car before it went to auction. The decision paved the way for the Ferrari to be sold at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it fetched a staggering £10.7 million (approximately $16.3 million), with the final ownership going to Les Wexner, the billionaire owner of Victoria's Secret.
Despite the sale, legal battles persisted. English and Kleve claimed that if they had been properly represented, they would have received over $8 million from the sale. Instead, Kleve's estate received a fraction of that amount, while Ford walked away with more than $2.4 million.
Today, the Ferrari 375 Plus sits in Wexner's collection in Columbus, Ohio—just over 100 miles from where it sat abandoned for decades. From a stolen wreck to a multi-million-dollar legal dispute, the car's journey is a testament to how a rare Ferrari can spark decades of controversy, deception, and high-stakes courtroom drama.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

This LEGO Formula 1 Mystery Box Set Is Almost Free and Comes With Six Surprise Race Cars
This LEGO Formula 1 Mystery Box Set Is Almost Free and Comes With Six Surprise Race Cars

Gizmodo

time3 hours ago

  • Gizmodo

This LEGO Formula 1 Mystery Box Set Is Almost Free and Comes With Six Surprise Race Cars

Who doesn't love Lego? Appealing to folks of all ages, Lego makes for wonderful gifts or collectors items. Those massive sets like the Death Star from Star Wars are all about the build. Slowly putting it together brick by brick. But while many Lego sets are like that, with a huge number of total pieces designed to be displayed after you finished, some are more about the play that comes after. That's exactly what these Formula 1 cars are for. Perfect for boys and girls alike, this mystery box of F1 race cars make for a wonderful gift. Normally priced at $30, right now you can score a box for just $20. That's a nice 33% discount you get to hold onto. See at Amazon Built for Play This set of collectible Formula 1 Lego race cars comes with six unique models. You won't know which six you'll get until you open the box. There are a total of 12 mini race cars to collect in all different color combinations. They include the RB20, Mercedes-AMG, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, Williams, VCARB, Sauber, Haas, F1 car, F1 Academy car, and more. They each feature the authentic team colors and official logos. Each box contains 174 pieces which works out to 29 pieces per race car, with easy instructions that anyone ages six and up will be able to follow and have fun doing so. Each car comes with an F1 helmet to place in the cockpit and moving wheels. You can actually play with and race your Formula 1 race cars once you've finished building them.

Advocates call on Michigan lawmakers to condemn ICE detention of Detroit student
Advocates call on Michigan lawmakers to condemn ICE detention of Detroit student

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Advocates call on Michigan lawmakers to condemn ICE detention of Detroit student

Advocates are calling on Michigan lawmakers and school officials to condemn the immigration arrest of an 18-year-old Western International High School student. (Elaine Cromie / Chalkbeat) This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit's free newsletter to keep up with the city's public school system and Michigan education policy. Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, an 18-year-old undocumented immigrant, had planned to return to Colombia with his mother after he graduated from Western International High School. With roughly one semester left in school, Maykol began making arrangements to leave the U.S. But his plans and his education were upended last month when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Instead of finishing out his junior year this week, the teen is in custody of the federal government and faces an 'imminent' risk of deportation, according to his attorney. Immigration advocates are now calling on Michigan's governor, several Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation, and Detroit school district leaders to fight for Maykol's release so he can complete his schooling in the U.S. 'At this time of the year, students should be focused on graduation and summer,' said Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who is representing Maykol. 'And here we have a student on precious time who is being deported. He should be able to finish his studies.' Maykol is only 3.5 credits away from graduating, Robinson said, and would likely be able to finish school around the end of the calendar year. His attorney said he is asking to be released and granted a stay of deportation to see his studies through before returning to Colombia. Maykol was arrested on May 20 after he attempted to join a school field trip to Lake Erie Metropark, about 25 miles from Detroit. While driving with three other students in the car, Maykol was pulled over for tailgating another vehicle, said Robinson. The teen was asked to provide his driver's license but only had a City of Detroit identification card. Michigan does not currently issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. The local police officers who pulled Maykol over could not speak Spanish and had trouble communicating with him, Robinson said, so they called Customs and Border Protection. 'An important aspect of this story is that local police, instead of relying on internal translation services, were relying on Border Patrol agents to interpret for them,' said Robinson. The practice of calling on Border Protection for traffic stops with people who can't speak English could be interpreted as racial profiling, the attorney said. Randy Krause, chief of the Rockwood Police Department, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Maykol, who came to the U.S. at 16, received a final deportation order in 2024. After that, Maykol was working with ICE and the Colombian Consulate to obtain the travel documents he needed to depart the country, according to his attorney. 'We were in compliance with their order,' said Robinson, adding the documents are required in order to board an airplane out of the country. 'It takes time for those documents to be generated.' He was still in the process of arranging to return to Colombia with his mother when he was arrested. It's unclear if he would have been able to graduate before leaving. On Monday afternoon, Robinson and Maykol's family didn't know where he was. They believed he was being moved from the Chippewa County Correctional Facility to another location early Monday morning, the attorney said. 'We expect when he does reach where he will spend the night tonight, we will be able to find him, or he will be able to make a phone call to us or his mom,' said Robinson. The attorney said because of the high number of people detained by ICE, the agency places them wherever bed space is available. 'We're seeing people detained in far parts of Michigan,' he said. 'We're also seeing people being sent to Ohio and other places as well.' By Monday afternoon, nearly 900 people had signed a petition asking Michigan officials to condemn Maykol's arrest, urge for him to be released to complete his high school education, and 'to put preventative policies in place to better support immigrant students and families.' Three advocacy groups — 482Forward, MI Students Dream, and the People's Assembly — created the petition. Lindsey Matson, the deputy director of 482Forward, said the advocacy effort is aimed at raising awareness of the issue and the petition, if it gains traction, will put pressure on those who have the power to intervene. 'Even a statement from the school board will be helpful,' Matson added. The petition calls for action from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, U.S. House Reps. Shri Thanedar and Rashida Tlaib, and the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Thanedar, in a Monday evening post on X, formerly Twitter, responded to the detention, saying: 'ICE should not be detaining high schoolers! Maykol Bogoya-Duarte just needs 3 credits to graduate, but was put in detention by ICE. He should be released immediately and allowed to get his diploma.' Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the district, told Chalkbeat last week that the school system's police department had advocated on the student's behalf. But the district did not notify students and families of the arrest because Maykol was not 'under the protection and responsibility' of the school system when ICE detained him, said Vitti. Robinson said notification about the incident or future instances like it would provide reassurances to families about how the district responds in these situations. 'I think people are looking for something like that from the school district,' said Robinson. In addition to advocating for Maykol's release to allow the teen to finish school, the attorney said the district should ensure its policies and practices support the needs of community members with immigration challenges. That includes making sure students and staff understand their rights in interactions with law enforcement, he added. In New York, the detention of a student has gained widespread attention and calls from advocates and political leaders for his release. (A second teen has since been detained.) Similarly, the detention of a teenager in Massachusetts prompted rallies. Less attention has been paid to Maykol's plight in comparison. Matson said his case isn't less important than what has happened in the other states. 'I feel like Democrats in Michigan have not really stood up for our immigrant population here,' she said. The advocacy groups calling for Maykol's release are asking community members to attend the Detroit Public Schools Community District board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Martin Luther King Jr. High School to urge school leaders to make public statements. Immigration advocates are also encouraging community members to call the offices of state and national lawmakers, as well as ICE. Lori Higgins is the Detroit bureau chief. You can reach her at lhiggins@ Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@ Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Hit-and-run accused 'likely' to deny murder charge
Hit-and-run accused 'likely' to deny murder charge

Yahoo

time4 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Hit-and-run accused 'likely' to deny murder charge

Two men accused of murdering a 16-year-old pedestrian in a hit-and-run are "highly likely" to deny the charge, a judge has said. Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al Yazidi was hit by an Audi on Staniforth Road, in Darnall, Sheffield, on 4 June and later died in hospital. Zulkernain Ahmed, 20, and Armaan Ahmed, 26, both of Locke Drive in Sheffield, are each charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder. At Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said he had been told they were "highly likely to plead not guilty" to murder, and set a potential trial date for 13 January 2026. No application for bail was made, with both men remanded into custody ahead of a further hearing on 3 October. South Yorkshire Police previously said it believed the Audi had driven towards three electric bikes and hit one rider - an 18-year-old man - who suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Abdullah's relatives said he had arrived in the UK from Yemen "for a better future" two or three months ago. The family said he was enjoying learning English ahead of starting at college in September. One relative, Saleh Alsirkal, said: "His dad brought him over to change his life, to get a better future for his son, but this has happened and destroyed everything." He said the teenager was a "kind boy" who just wanted to look after his family, including his three sisters. A 46-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and have both been bailed pending further inquiries, police said. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North HM Courts & Tribunals Service

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store