CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Stellantis has been awarded nearly $5.5 million by default in its lawsuit against Sky Auto Mall in Newhall and Center Point.
Stellantis Financial Group sued Sky Auto Mall in March. The automaker said the dealership’s owners set up a scheme taking out double loans on their vehicles and owed Stellantis more than $12 million.
According to a Linn County court filing from Monday, a district court judge automatically granted judgement to Stellantis because Sky Auto Mall never responded to the lawsuit.
The automaker seized vehicles from the lot shortly after the initial filing.
The owners filed for bankruptcy in March, according to Stellantis.
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PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.