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Ernest García II (born May 1, 1957) is an American billionaire businessman, in the used car sector. He is the owner of DriveTime (originally named UglyDuckling), and a major shareholder of Carvana. In 1990 he pled guilty to a felony bank fraud charge for his role in the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association collapse. As of March 2024, his net worth was estimated at US$9 billion.[1]
Ernest García II | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 1, 1957 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Arizona |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Chairman and owner, DriveTime |
| Spouse | Married |
| Children | Ernest Garcia III |
Ernest García II was born May 1, 1957,[2] the son of Ernest Garcia, who co-owned a liquor store with Frank Colaianni, and was once the mayor of Gallup, New Mexico.[3] He dropped out, but eventually earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona.[3]
In October 1990, García, then a Tucson-based real estate developer pleaded guilty to a felony bank fraud charge for his role as a straw borrower in the collapse of Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.[4][5] Garcia "fraudulently obtained a $30-million line of credit in a series of transactions that also helped Lincoln hide its ownership in risky desert Arizona land from regulators."[4] Garcia spent three years on probation, and he and his firm filed for bankruptcy.[5]
In 1991, García bought Ugly Duckling, a bankrupt rent-a-car franchise, for under $1 million and merged it with his own fledgling finance company, and turned it into a company selling and financing used cars for sub-prime buyers with poor credit history.[5] Garcia took the company public on the NASDAQ exchange in 1996, trading under the ticker "UGLY".[6] In 1999, Garcia was involved in six lawsuits alleging he had "abused his position to profit" from a real estate deal where he ultimately acquired 17 company properties at a 10% discount.[5] In 2002, Garcia and the former Ugly Duckling CEO, Gregory Sullivan, took the company private and renamed it DriveTime.[7]
As of April 2021, García's net worth is estimated at $15.9 billion.[8]
It was announced in September 2021 that Garcia had sold more than $3.6 billion of Carvana stock since the previous October, which amounted to 16% of his holdings in the company.[9]
He is married, and lives in Tempe, Arizona.[1] His son, Ernest Garcia III, is CEO of Carvana.[3]
Garcia owns an apartment in New York's Trump Tower.[3]
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