Car Mogul Raises Eyebrows After Pocketing $3.6B From Son’s Company

Billionaire Ernest Garcia II, whose son is the CEO of the used car company Carvana, has sold over $3.6 billion of the company’s stock in the past year, drawing scrutiny over whether the business has unduly benefited the family. Together, the father-and-son duo controls more than 85 percent of the company’s voting power, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the share sales. Stockholders previously filed a lawsuit after Garcia II bought shares at a discount during the onset of the pandemic. Worth an estimated $19 billion, according to Forbes, Garcia II pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 1990 over his role in a financial controversy at another firm, Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. He later said he did so under “severe financial pressure,” the Journal reports. A spokesperson for Carvana told the newspaper that the company follows “all rules and regulations.”