UPDATE: Viken Keuylian was scheduled to formally change his plea to guilty today (May 4), but the hearing was postponed because his attorney’s wife had a baby. Stay tuned for news on when the hearing is scheduled).
Lambos seized by feds
The owner of Lamborghini Orange County, formerly the world’s largest Lamborghini dealership, has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal fraud for bilking $12 million from the finance company that fronted him money to sell the luxury cars.
Viken Keuylian, 45 of Laguna Hills, could face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million according to his plea agreement. The agreement must be approved by a judge. Keuylian is scheduled to appear on Monday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
Keuylian and his family owned the Lamborghini dealership in Santa Ana and Calabasas, which closed last fall after Volkswagen Credit Inc. pulled financing for the dealerships and sued for fraud in Orange County Superior Court.
According to Keuylian’s criminal plea agreement, he sold about 5 percent of all the Lamborghinis in the world in 2008, including 54 vehicles during a two week discounting spree in October of last year as he struggled to pay off debts for a vineyard, a show room on Coast Highway in Newport Beach and other debts.
Keuylian sold Lamborghinis to celebrities and professional athletes, including Lakers star Kobe Bryant. He also supported fundraisers for AIDS hosted by Hollywood stars like actress Sharon Stone.
Sharon Stone & Vik Keuylian
A list of the sales attached to the plea agreement shows he received $8.1 million for cars that VW Credit financed for $12.6 million. The list of vehicles included 23 sold to Newport Beach entrepreneur Levon Gugasian, who owns Newport Collectibles, an auto dealership.
According to the plea agreement, Gugasian paid $60,430 cash to Keuylian for a 2009 Lamborghini LP640 that VW Credit had financed for $387,720. Gugasian declined to comment and referred questions to his attorney, Gary Waldron.
Waldron said he was unfamiliar with the criminal charges against Keuylian but that his client sued VW Credit in November to protect his rights to the cars he purchased, long before the criminal allegations emerged.
To see the plea agreement, CLICK HERE
To see the U.S. Attorney’s press release, CLICK HERE
Other Orange County business legal stories …
My friend lives across the street from the family that was paid to manage this dealership. It was nice driving by because they almost always had one of those lamborghinis parked right out front. Pretty sweet!
I am so bummed I did not get an LP640 for $60K. I wonder what Gugasian is selling it for.
Doesn’t surprise me one bit!
Tell me again how greed is good? Who is it good for? The greedy? Viken Keuylian, was it it good for you? You’ll have 30 years to think about it.
Gugasian needs to be investigated as well, he obviously knew it was a crime when he purchased those 360K cars for 60K. Kind of like a person buying a new Digital Camera from a Bum for 10 dollars, except this crime had paperwork!
Send him back home! I’m tired of foreigners coming over here and raping our country!
Sharon Stone is posing with fraudulent car dealers now?
I am waiting for the notes that say “he was a good man”. Whatever, he was a crook plain and simple, just because he was a good man means nothing. It’s like those gang members who go to trial for murder. “But he was a good guy” Whatever, throw the book at him, take everything. Even from family members. If they have a problem with that, they can go after Viken. This is just like Madoff. I steal $50 billion, but now the wife wants to keep the money and the property because they are in her name.
$11 million for maybe 3 or 5 years in a country club prison? I am sure some people have no problem with that.
I’ll be the first to say that the Gugusian Family is a great family and great to our community. Their kids are well behaved and their kids (Levon’s kids) are very nice. They own the property that a lot of dealerships are on and I think a lot of you are jumping to conclusions.
Jumping to conclusions, he plea bargained. Maybe he wasn’t guilty that is why he admitted to it. Give me a break. A guy buys a car for 20%of market value and he doesn’t realize that something is fishy? But “their kids are well behaved” Please!
I Know Gugasian traded exotic 6 cars + cash for the two Lamborghinis. The press forgot to mention the trades. They are a very reputable family in O.C.
Leave it to the brow down society. All are scandols
Look King
If you owned the land that a restaurant was on, and they leased the building from you, and promised you could eat free in lieu of rent a couple of times a week- would you consider that fraud?
If you drill down, the Gugasians and the Keuylians are cousins. REALLY
GIVE HIM 40 YEARS IN JAIL AND WE WILL CELEBRATE FOR HIM. I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH SCUMBAG LIKE HIM
tooshort, are you on Gugasian’s payroll or something? The family is great to your community and the kids are well-behaved and very nice? Are you joking?
Never trust an Armenian. It’s part of their culture to be deceitful. This applies to Lebanese too. I’m speaking from experience.
TomTurkey:
Here’s your chance!
Check with the Feds about what’s going to happen with the ten confiscated Lambos!
Sounds like a conspiracy to me. These guys were in it together. I wonder if there was a large amount of ‘cash’ involved. I heard that the wife was arrested at the airport with $2.5 million in cash on her way to Switzerland.
tooshort:
Are you really serious? Are you comparing a couple of free meals a week to buying a $400,000 car for $60,000? BTW it was more than one, I believe it was 12 cars for pennies on the dollar! And for the record what did Gugasian own that Mr Keuylian was renting from him that would in your world make this okay? Wait but “his kids are well behaved”, guess what so are Bernie Madoff’s.
Lets look at those CEO that rape the banks for big money, more power to you Vic . He might get few years and come out but im sure he will have enough cash to live off it. So it was worth it.
Its an Armenian thing, were smart not like you americans
You rock Vic
Hey Nick
You Armenians are real smart. Why don’t you read the part about after he spends 30 years in prison that he has to pay all the money back! You are a genuis to think that it was worth it, he doesn’t get to see his children grow up that’s worth it? Or is it an Armenian thing to not care about your Family either Nick? You rock Nick you Moron.
Isn’t he a wonderful piece of crap bilking his finance company out of at least 12 million? He could teach Susan the accountant about how to embezzle more than $577,000. A real piece of work, I’m sure he has made his family very very proud!
I’m not on the payroll, I’m a friend of one of their kids. The land they own and rent to those very expensive dealerships is worth a lot of money per month. Free meals was just an example that I thought you could digest.
At least he’ll have something cool to talk about in prison. Enjoy the food in there Vic.
Vic K is NOT a nice man. This does not surprise me AT ALL! I know someone who worked for him and was fired because this person refused to be part of a bribe that Vic wanted to my friend to be a party to. He is a bad guy who got what he deserved. Period. End. Finish. Have fun in prison Vic…it is where you belong.
tooshort, you must be a friend of one of Leo’s GRANDkids if you’re too naive to understand his role in this situation. You can say whatever you want about his kids, his grandkids, and the value of the real estate he owns, but that doesn’t change the fact that HE’S A CRIMINAL who also played an illegal part in this whole thing. Just face it. It’s a fact. And if he could back-stab a member of his own family, just imagine what he would do to YOU in a heartbeat.
Nick, you’re really ignorant.
Confirmed yesterday: Levon himself is not related to Vic. I need to understand: Hasn’t Vic been doing this for a while now? and many times he’s been busted? It’s too bad for all the people who got srewed purchasing these cars.
JPJ, I’m not sure where you’re “confirming” your information, but they ARE related. Viken is the cousin of Levon’s wife, children, and grandchildren. Are you saying the two of them are not relatives because it’s by marriage??? And if you’re implying that Gugasian is a victim in this situation, you’re dead wrong. He knew exactly what he was doing when he “purchased” those cars from Viken.
um please don’t stereo type. Not all Armenians are crooked nor are Lebanese. There’s a bad apple in every crop. so chill out on the racism here ok!!! I’m not saying that this person is innocent but dont judge the whole race on this.
I know this character. His father was a smuggler (anything illegal: cigarettes, hashish and then Heroin) back home. Went to jail a few times including a stint in Turkey for the H. Vik had a great coach in life. In the late eighties he started dabbling in the grey market with daddy sending cars from Europe. God only knows what was hidden in those cars. In the early nineties Vik was peddling charity raffle tickets. The CA attorney general put a stop to that scam…. Then his daddy pumped some money in the family and they purchased a Lambo dealership. In those days you couldn’t give away a Lambo. I have no idea how involved the three sisters were in the scam even though they were the ones selling the cars! … All I can say is that the apple does not fall far from the apple tree. These guys give the hard working honest Armenians indigestion and a bad name. I hope Vik gets what he deserves, and that smirk and sneer are wiped off his effy face.
Johnny, you seem to think you know a lot about Viken… Do you have anything to say about Levon?
I’m Armenian and I’m totally NOT deceitful, greedy or mean. In fact I take pride in being a good person. : )
April 24, 1915
I saw the article about Vik in Live OC today and then read this piece on the OC Register. I guess I missed it in the paper that day… I just want to say that I feel so bad for Vik’s family. I knew Vik and his family and he was always a kind and giving person. I worked for Road & Track magazine for several years. I first met Vik when trying to help grant a WISH for a Make a Wish Kid. Vik didn’t hesitate and came down a made that kids WISH come true and then some! He always supported charities involving kids and cars. It sounds like he got in over his head like a lot of people have recently. It’s sooo sad. I can’t help but wonder what Leo’s role is in all of this is and what’s going to come of all of that??? Betting we haven’t heard the end of this…
JIll, this guy was edging his bet with make a wish so he might not get a direct pass to hell with the rest of the things he did. Man should be judged with the things he does as a whole, not the incrimental - good or bad. This guy is a thief and everyone who bought a discount Lambo is also a thief. And I am a bit jealous that I was not on the discount List….