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The Drive
a day ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
How a Las Vegas Couple Allegedly Stole $57,000,000 in Supercar Flipping Scam
The latest car news, reviews, and features. On May 22, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department arrested Jong and Neelufar Rhee on 75 charges related to a scheme to defraud victims of more than $57 million. The Rhees allegedly solicited investors via two Vegas-based businesses, Twisted Twins Motorsports, LLC, and Lusso Auto Spa, suckering them into contributing money to buy supercars on behalf of overseas customers with more money than brains. Those overseas buyers? Entirely fictitious. The investment? Squandered on expensive toys and other lifestyle accessories. The promised $2 billion dollar return on the initial investment? Yeah, not happening. According to police, a great deal of that money was spent on cars (along with other forms of 'personal enrichment'), but not to be resold. When the Rhees were arrested, police seized multiple big-ticket vehicles, including multiple Bugatti Chirons, a Pagani Huayra and a custom, 2,500-horsepower MTI V center console boat, among others. And if you ask people who have worked with the Rhees over the years, not one bit of it is a surprise. A former contractor who worked with several of the couple's local ventures saw the news of the arrests online last week and immediately said to himself, 'The Rhee family strikes again!' We spoke to him with the stipulation that we wouldn't publish his personal information, and he had quite a bit to say about how Jong and Neelu conducted business. He described Jong as flashy and calculating—the kind of person who parked expensive cars in conspicuous places in hopes of luring potential clients, and occasionally marks. Sometimes, they were one and the same. He met Jong while admiring one of his personal vehicles, which had been strategically parked to attract attention. The two got to talking, and eventually Jong offered him a job doing promotional work. 'I was in between W2 jobs,' he told The Drive . He jumped at the offer. His work took him from one Rhee family venture to the next. In addition to Twisted Twins Motorsports and Lusso Auto Spa, the couple backed a restaurant called 8 Kitchen (in Henderson, now closed) and owned various other ventures that specialized in niche markets, such as high-end home audio. With the exception to some Pinkberry chain stores in California, each of Rhee's ventures seemed to revolve around the theme of hooking well-off but poorly-informed clientele. Jong seemed especially adept at courting athletes, including players from the Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey team. The Rhees allegedly engaged in their share of shady sales antics, such as importing cheap knock-off Chinese wheels and mounting them on high-end cars to flip them for ridiculous markups. They also offered basic cosmetic services, such as custom vinyl wraps and window tinting, at egregious markups, and claimed to offer more robust services, such as high-end custom paint work. But even with the high volume of work the Rhees were doing, our source found it difficult to reconcile their income with the conspicuous excess the couple displayed. 'I know that there's a lot of margin in tint and wraps,' he found himself asking, 'but like, how did this guy just buy a new Rolls-Royce?' Weeks later, the Rolls was joined by a China Blue Mercedes-Benz G-Class, followed shortly by an S-Class in the same Manufaktur-exclusive paint. It was at this point that Rhee's more predatory strategies began to come to light. He shared the story of a customer who wanted to create a remote control scale model of their custom yacht. Rhee offered to do the custom paint job—for $25,000. As it turned out, he had no way to actually deliver the finished product, leaving employees to scramble at the last minute to find somebody who could paint the custom hull. Rhee ended up outsourcing the job for about $3,000. Even after allegedly pocketing $22,000 in margin, Rhee made the painter fight tooth and nail to be paid for his work. Scummy though these strategies may be, however, there's nothing inherently illegal about separating fools from their money. Our source wasn't aware of the depth of his employer's shadiness, but as Rhee's money began to dry up, he had no qualms with pushing the squeeze on to his business associates, including our source, whose paychecks eventually stopped showing up. Based on the information coming out of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, this would have been around the same time the Rhees found themselves unable to cover their mounting bills or obligations to their supposed 'investors.' Rhee told our source time and time again that there was no problem and that the money would come. It never did. Today, he's sitting on receipts totaling more than $10,000. Even if the amount seems comparatively insignificant, it's no less an indicator of how Rhee conducted business. Since sharing the news that the Rhees were arrested, several others have contacted him to say they're also owed money. 'It's not as much as they owe the people they ripped off to buy the Pagani,' he acknowledged. Still. The Rhees' broader scheme is only now coming to light, but if these charges stick, it seems likely that Las Vegas car culture will be rid of a decades-long menace. Were you a victim of the Rhees' investment scheme, or another of their shady ventures? Drop us a line at tips@ or reach out to the author directly at byron@
The Drive
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
Nissan Selling the HQ Ghosn Built Would Prove No Cost Is Too Sacred to Cut
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Two decades ago, Ford famously mortgaged virtually every asset at its disposal under then-CEO Alan Mulally's plan to overhaul its crippled finances. Was it a sign of failure and desperation? Certainly, but it would prove prescient not even two years later when Detroit rivals General Motors and Chrysler both went hat-in-hand to the federal government asking for bailouts. Just three years later, under now-disgraced former CEO Carlos Ghosn, Nissan was building the 22-story high-rise in Yokohama that has been the company's home for more than 15 years. And now it might be for sale, Automotive News reports. This time around, it's not a member of America's 'Big Three,' but Japan's. Alongside Toyota and Honda, Nissan has spent decades as one of the highest-volume manufacturers on its side of the Pacific. Nissan's headquarters is the house that Ghosn built. He announced the move two years before Ford's comprehensive restructuring platform, and like Mulally, he was originally brought onboard to mount a corporate turnaround. Before he took the reins, Nissan was battling $20 billion in debt and a predominantly unprofitable Japanese lineup. Ghosn's ascendancy began with Renault's initial buy-in back in 1999, when he was named COO. By 2001, that first 'O' had become an 'E.' Getty Images Ghosn, who famously fled Japan in what amounted to a giant roadie trunk, maintains to this day that Japan's prosecution (or to hear him say it, persecution) is motivated by a desire to cast blame on an outsider, and in the process, prevent a French takeover of the beleaguered automaker—what may seem a quaint concern given Nissan's current financial desperation. History being cyclical, it seems oddly poetic that the new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, appears poised to divest the company of the very building it calls home in exchange for a cash injection that could amount to more than $650 million. Property sales alone won't erase Nissan's debt, but they would ease pressure on the company's staggering operating costs. Nissan lost $4.5 billion in the last quarter of its 2024 fiscal year alone—its second-largest drop in the past 25 years. An audit of assets it has available for liquidation put Nissan's headquarters building on the bean-counters' radar, and it's certainly not alone. According to AN , the company is eyeballing three domestic factories for potential closure, and a downsizing of its Tochigi assembly and testing facility has apparently not been ruled out. The Drive has reached out to Nissan for comment on this report and will update it with anything we should learn. Got a tip? Email tips@
The Drive
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
6.5 Horsepower Is Plenty for This Particular Porsche 911
The latest car news, reviews, and features. A Porsche 911 with an advertised 6.5 horsepower sounds like a typo. Unless it's dropped into a realistically designed go-kart. And you can get your hands on this orange-coated beauty via Bring a Trailer. The Targa-style 911 was built by Little Roadsters, a Florida-based outfit that touts itself as having perfected the 2/3-scale replicas of classic Porsche roadsters. Not gonna lie, this Targa build fits the boast. It's adorable! The color also kind of matches The Drive 's logo; too bad we don't have a central office to hang this thing on the wall of. Featuring fiberglass bodywork over a tubular steel frame, the petite Porsche is also equipped with a plastic windscreen and rear window, a ducktail spoiler, a black Targa-badged roll bar, 'Carrera' graphics, and a Porsche hood emblem to complete the mini replica look. Other bits include a driver-side mirror, door handles, rear bumperettes, and faux features such as a fuel door, decklid grille, and exhaust. And that's just the exterior. Bring a Trailer On the inside, the scale 911 is decked in black vinyl, features black molded door panels, and is outfitted with a rubber floor mat. A dashboard styled with simulated gauges and a three-spoke steering wheel provide the appropriate Porsche POV. As far as performance, the engine is a 200cc Buffalo single-cylinder that is positioned in the rear. The single-speed transmission offers just forward and reverse. The floor-mounted shifter and handbrake are positioned between the sheets. Operational features found on the dash are the electric starter, engine cut-off button, and controls for the horn, lights, and turn signals. If specs are the same for all of Little Roadsters' builds, the replica 911 Carrera weighs about 550 pounds and has a top speed of 30 mph. The current high bid (out of six) is $5,000 with the auction slated to end during the afternoon of Friday, May 30. There is no reserve. Seen any other super cool over-built go-karts? Share them with us at tips@ Beverly Braga has enjoyed an eventful career as a Swiss Army knife, having held roles as an after-school teacher, film critic, PR manager, transcriber, and video producer – to name a few. She is currently a communications consultant and freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous outlets covering automotive, entertainment, lifestyle, and food & beverage. Beverly grew up in Hawaii but roots for Washington, D.C., sports teams.
Auto Car
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Car
WATCH: Tesla Model Y 'Juniper' review: best-selling EV less annoying than ever
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