Bernie Moreno Secured $40 Million In Financing To Open New Car Dealership While Lying About Selling All Of His Businesses

The Statehouse News Bureau: “Moreno Sought And Signed Off On $40 Million Worth Of Mercedes-Benz Financing And Bought A Plot Of Property In Sunbury For The Auto Storefront, According To Delaware County Recorder’s Office Documents.”

Columbus, OH – Following reporting from NBC News that caught Bernie Moreno “preparing a return to the auto industry,” new reporting revealed Bernie Moreno “sought and signed off on $40 million worth of Mercedes-Benz financing” to open a new car dealership in Sunbury despite telling Ohioans “for more than a year that he sold off business interests.”

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The Statehouse News Bureau: In US Senate race, unions chide Moreno for central Ohio dealership plans
Sarah Donaldson
September 7, 2024

• [Labor unions] bashed the political newcomer [Bernie Moreno] Friday over plans to construct a car dealership north of Columbus.

• Moreno has maintained for more than a year that he sold off business interests, including more than a dozen car dealerships he once owned in the Midwest, in preparation for political candidacy.

• “I’ve sold all my operating businesses,” he said in November 2023. “I wanted to go to Washington, D.C., free of any conflicts of interest. No individual stocks, no individual bonds, no corporate holdings. I’ve made that sacrifice to run for the U.S. Senate.”

• But Moreno sought and signed off on $40 million worth of Mercedes-Benz financing and bought a plot of property in Sunbury for the auto storefront, according to Delaware County Recorder’s Office documents. NBC News originally broke the story.

• Union leaders with the local AFL-CIO, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council and United Auto Workers held a news conference across the street from the future auto storefront Friday…

• Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council, said it’s not about the investments themselves.

• “It’s a free market economy,” Hager said. “But when he comes out and he wins the primary and he says he’s going to focus 100% on his Senate run, and then if he gets elected, focus on the workers in Ohio, obviously that’s a very dishonest statement … It’s going to be his name on the dealership…”

LISTEN TO MORE FROM THE STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU HERE

Jeff Gase, UAW Region 2B Central Ohio CAP Council Chairperson: “[Moreno’s] just a big fat cat. He wants all the profits. He wants the money. Wants it for himself.”

Sarah Donaldson, The Statehouse News Bureau: “…union leaders were standing in front of the quintessential union mascot, a fat cat inflatable it basked in the sun Friday off a busy road in Sunbury, across from a plot of property Moreno bought earlier this year that will eventually host a Mercedes Benz dealership.”

Jamie Shumaker, Ohio AFL-CIO Central Ohio CLC Executive Director: “I don’t buy [Moreno’s excuses] one bit.”

SEE ALSO: NEW: Car Salesman Bernie Moreno Caught “Preparing Return To Auto Industry” After Claiming He “Sold Off All Of His Business To Avoid Conflicts Of Interest”; “New Controversy” For Bernie Moreno As He’s Caught Getting Back Into Car Dealership Business; Bernie Moreno “Under Scrutiny” One Week After Getting Caught “Preparing A Return To Auto Industry”