DEERFIELD, Ill., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A Deerfield, Ill., couple deny allegations they swindled more than $31 million from retail giant Best Buy in a computer parts scheme.
Abby and Russell Cole, owners of the Chip Factory, are being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service for an alleged "multiyear, multimillion-dollar online bid-rigging scheme," say federal court documents.
Late last year, federal agents seized their Ferrari coupe, Lamborghini convertible and nine other luxury cars worth nearly $3 million, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. The couple has not been charged with a crime and deny any wrongdoing, said their lawyer Shelly B. Kulwin.
The Coles allegedly defrauded Best Buy from July 2003 to August 2007 through an online scheme in which they bid low on computer parts contracts and then charged much higher prices, aided by a Best Buy employee who is cooperating with prosecutors, the Tribune reported.
"We were pretty outraged when we discovered it," said Best Buy spokeswoman Susan Busch.
