$1 billion fraud revealed with guilty pleas from subprime auto lender Tricolor

The founder of Tricolor Holdings led other top executives of the subprime auto lender on a seven-year campaign to defraud its largest lenders out of nearly $1 billion, authorities said Wednesday, as they announced two arrests and guilty pleas by two former executives.

Daniel Chu, the company’s founder and chief executive, was charged in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court with directing multiple executives since 2018 to defraud investors and lending institutions. The fraudulent...