North Charlotte Today

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The owner of a Charlotte area car dealership and a sales manager have pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. John Harvey Martin, 50, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty today, and Vincent Emmanuel Jefferson, Jr., 47, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, August 13, 2024.

Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Charlotte Field Office; and Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office; joined U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, Martin was the owner of iNetwork Auto Group Inc. (iNetwork), a car dealership located in Charlotte. Martin also owned and operated The Scorpio nightclub in Charlotte. Martin employed Jefferson as a sales manager for iNetwork. Court documents show that from July 2017 through January 2021, Martin and Jefferson engaged in a money laundering scheme by selling approximately 20 luxury vehicles to G.D., an individual who the defendants knew was a drug dealer or were willfully blind to that fact. The defendants received cash payments from G.D., knowing or being willfully blind to the fact that the cash represented property derived from some form of criminal activity.

Jefferson and Martin further facilitated the fraud by allowing G.D. to buy vehicles using names of straw purchasers to conceal G.D.’s identity and hide the illicit source of cash used for payments. To further this conspiracy, Martin and Jefferson at times forged signatures on sales documents for vehicles sold to G.D., frequently notarizing paperwork knowing that straw purchasers were not true buyers. Court records indicate that Martin and Jefferson received over $520,000 in cash payments from G.D.

Martin used at least $200,000 from these transactions for renovations to a building adjacent to iNetwork Auto Group Inc., according to court documents. He also solicited at least $100,000 from G.D. for purchasing The Scorpio nightclub while concealing G.D.’s ownership interest in it.

As admitted by Martin in court today, he later bought out G.D.’s ownership interest in The Scorpio for at least $100,000 in cash given by another individual identified as J.M., who attempted to drive this money to G.D.'s drug trafficking source in California before law enforcement seized it.

Following this seizure under direction from G.D., J.M submitted a fraudulent claim falsely representing lawful ownership obtained through sale proceeds from The Scorpio nightclub under penalty of perjury with support documentation provided by Martin.

Both defendants have been released on bond pending sentencing dates yet to be set; each faces up-to-20-year maximum prison sentences upon conviction due diligence pursued jointly IRS-CI & DEA efforts led prosecution alongside Assistant US Attorneys Taylor Stout & Thomas Kent working out U.S attorney office based within city limits handling legalities involved throughout case progressions undertaken thus far conclusively ending hereafter...