An American billionaire was duped by a fake offer for a Mercedes-AMG One. He has now filed a lawsuit and is seeking $5.4 million in recovery.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
The Mercedes-AMG One is one of several limited-edition supercars that are highly sought after by collectors. The Formula 1-powered supersport model was unveiled at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, but it was delayed for several years due to problems in adapting the 1.6-liter F1 V6 engine for a street car. The engine had to meet increasingly stringent emissions rules and the idle revs had to be lowered from 5,000 rpm for the F1 engine to a much lower rev for the street models. The Mercedes-AMG One is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engine and four electric motors developing 1,063 PS in total.
Initially, the delay to production was 2 years to 2019 but this was later extended to December 2022, when the first deliveries began. Only 275 examples were produced at the exorbitant price of 2.75 million euros plus VAT.
Of course, demand far outstripped supply, which is why speculative bids appeared on the market.
One victim of this speculation was Los Angeles-based American billionaire Michael Mente, the founder and CEO of the Revolve fashion brand. In theory, Mente could not buy a Mercedes-AMG One in the US because the model was not homologated for the US market.
However, he tried to buy one through an intermediary on another continent, using an American lawyer and a French intermediary. The two informed him that he would receive the car in 2021.
Subsequently, production was delayed and the American billionaire had no inkling that it was a fraud. Time passed and in 2023 Mercedes reported that all 275 units had been sold. Then, the American billionaire realized he was the victim of fraud.
He launched criminal proceedings but the French dealer had disappeared in the meantime. The man behind the alleged dealer was in fact the Texan fraudster Traveon Rogers, who had already attracted attention in several fraud cases. These included a second fake sale of a Mercedes AMG One. According to the US press, Rogers is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for grand larceny in a similar case in which he posed as an Aston Martin representative and sold a British sports car using forged documents.
Mente has filed a lawsuit against Rogers, but it’s doubtful he will recover his $5.4 million. The lawyer hired as a contact denies any involvement in the fraud. She merely brokered the contact between the two without knowing the Texan was a fraudster.
