Lei Zhou, also known as “Lei Lei,” 43, of Flushing, New York, was sentenced Wednesday in Hartford to 42 months of imprisonment for offenses related to a series of vehicle thefts from a Greenwich car dealership utilizing personal information from identity theft victims.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Zhou and others used stolen personal and financial information and stolen or counterfeit identity cards from multiple identity theft victims to apply for loans to purchase or lease at least six luxury vehicles with a total value of more than $650,000 from a car dealership in Greenwich. They then transported the vehicles to New York and sought to resell them.
As an example, on October 4, 2022, Zhou, using a stolen identity, obtained $114,175.31 in financing to purchase a 2021 Chevrolet Corvette from the Greenwich dealership. Zhou also submitted a forged $14,000 check in the name of another identity theft victim as a down payment toward the purchase. He then transported the Corvette to New York for resale.
Most of the vehicles were repossessed before they could be resold.
Zhou has been detained since his arrest on August 30, 2024. On May 22, 2026, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Zhou, a citizen of China and lawful permanent resident of the U.S., has a criminal history that includes convictions for menacing with a weapon, aggravated harassment, and attempted robbery, and a federal conviction in the Southern District of New York related to the trafficking of methamphetamine.
U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala sentenced Zhou. The announcement was made by David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. This matter has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Greenwich Police Department and the New York City Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena L. Coronado.