Owner of Sumner Wholesale Auto Group and a Co-Conspirator Charged in Scheme to Defraud Ford Motor Company

NASHVILLE - John Alan Nebel, 39, of Gallatin, Tennessee, and Joshua David Nichols, 52, of Nashville, Tennessee, have been charged with conspiring to defraud Ford Motor Company by selling old fuel injectors in boxes falsely labeled with Ford markings to make it appear as though those parts were eligible for a rebate from Ford, announced Acting United States Attorney Thomas J. Jaworski for the Middle District of Tennessee.

According to court documents, Nebel was a founder and co-owner of Sumner Wholesale Auto Group LLC, which operated under the name SWAG Performance & Off-Road LLC in Hendersonville, Tennessee, during the time of the conspiracy. SWAG has relocated to Cotton Town, Tennessee. Nichols was an independent contractor working for SWAG.

Ford offered a rebate program through which customers who bought a genuine Ford replacement fuel injector, which cost approximately $300, could return their old fuel injector ("core") and receive $180 from Ford. Instead of selling genuine Ford cores to SWAG's customers, Nebel, Nichols and their co-conspirators bought old, used cores for $35 to $45, packaged them using fake labels, decals and logos so that they appeared to be cores that were associated with the purchase of new replacement parts, and then sold them to SWAG customers for $95 to $170 each, knowing that SWAG's customers would make rebate claims to Ford for the full $180 rebate.

If convicted, Nebel and Nichols face up to 20 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 each.

This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie N. Toussaint is prosecuting the case.

An indictment or information is merely an allegation. The defendants are presumed innocent until convicted.

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