- 3 - subsequently submitted an application and were accepted to become Toyota dealers. Prior to entering into a dealership agreement, petitioner met with an executive of Southeast Toyota Distributors, Inc. (SET), one of a group of related companies that controlled the financing and distribution of the Toyota automobiles until they arrived at the dealers within the regional area. On April 24, 1987, petitioner and Jordan formed an Alabama corporation, Hamp Griffin Toyota-GMC, Inc.(HGTG), to operate the Toyota dealership, which was purchased on May 27, 1987. Based on representations of SET employees and others, petitioner had invested in the dealership with the expectation of selling approximately 30 cars and 30 trucks per month at a profit of about $800 or $900 per vehicle. Petitioner arranged for and became guarantor of a $1 million line of credit and personally borrowed $350,000 to lend to HGTG to commence its business. After beginning operations, petitioner learned that some of the representations were exaggerated and/or false, including the ability to generate income in the expected amounts. Petitioner also discovered that SET encouraged dealers to falsely report their vehicle information in order to cause an increase in their allocation of Toyota automobiles. Petitioner and Jordan did not participate in the false reporting. As a result, HGTG did not receive as large an allocation of vehiclesPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
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