A Queens driving school reportedly conspired with three Staten Island Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) workers in a driver’s license fraud scheme, the district attorney and New York State Inspector General’s Office said.
The T&E Driving School in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens conspired with DMV employees who administered road tests on Staten Island, so that customers could pay the school up to $2,000 to illegally secure a driver’s license, prosecutors said, according to a report by NBC 4 New York.
The driving school and DMV employees allegedly worked together to schedule road tests with a male or female imposter, who would then take the tests on behalf of the customers while the scheming DMV staffers received kickbacks in cash.
Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon said on Tuesday that there could be hundreds or even thousands of drivers who received their licenses without ever taking the required road test.
“Too many people have gotten driver’s licenses because of corruption, because of theft,” McMahon said. “Countless individuals are driving on our roads without demonstrating the skills necessary to do it safely.”
Investigators are now working with the DMV to track down the drivers who are currently behind the wheel with fraudulent licenses.
“We think this is just the tip of the iceberg, to put it simply,” McMahon added.
Meanwhile, the three DMV employees, along with four others associated with T&E Driving School, are facing charges including falsifying business records, tampering with public records, and identity theft, NBC 4 New York reported.
“T&E used social media and strategic advertising to exploit members of the Chinese community and get licenses regardless of immigration status, language, and ability to operate a vehicle,” George Ioannidis, of Homeland Security Investigations, said.
Driver’s license fraud schemes are not isolated to New York City.
As Breitbart News reported last month, Florida police arrested a group — two DMV workers and six others — selling driver’s licenses, including commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), to nearly 1,000 illegal aliens for cash.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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