Milwaukee luxury car broker to pay $5.4M restitution for using clients’ money to gamble, buy jewelry

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A Milwaukee luxury car broker must pay $5.4 million in restitution for a tax fraud conspiracy involving stealing foreign clients’ money.

Fifty-one-year-old Tedmund Blankschein pleaded guilty to charges that he and his business partner, Albert aka Alex Golant, used their companies to steal money from overseas buyers looking to purchase luxury cars. Blankschein and Golant controlled brokerage businesses WI Automotive T.R.U.S.T.; Lease, Registration, and Consulting LLC; and DOT Automotive of WI LLC. Federal officials said from at least 2013 to 2017, they diverted money meant to purchase luxury cars for foreign buyers, mostly in China, and used it to gamble and buy expensive jewelry and other items.

Officials said Golant lied to the companies’ accountant and said the funds were used to buy the cars. He instructed the accountant to deduct them as expenses on their tax returns, which resulted in more than $12 million in under-reported income and overstated expenses. The misreporting generated a $5.4 million tax loss to the federal government.

On Monday, a federal judge sentenced Blankschein to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay the IRS $5.4 million joint and several with Golant.

Golant was sentenced to 126 months in prison for his role in the crime in August, and he has to pay $23.3 million in restitution, which includes the $5.4 million owed jointly with Blankschein. Follow @“WLJreporter”