Auto-repair mogul accused of running $30M postal-truck repair scam

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A New York auto-repair magnate has been getting rich off taxpayers by billing for work on US Postal Service trucks that were returned with shoddy repairs or no repairs at all, Manhattan federal prosecutors said on Friday.

Ibrahim “Tony” Issa, who owns First Star Auto Repair in The Bronx and shops in Florida, Michigan and Texas, has been generating a steady flow of business by bribing USPS vehicle managers with fancy dinners, vacations and other gifts, prosecutors said.

In exchange, Issa, of Poughkeepsie — who raked in $30 million from USPS in 2012 — billed for work that was not needed or not done, according to the complaint.

Issa’s shoddy work led to complaints in 2013, prompting the Office of the Inspector General to send two vehicle managers to investigate undercover.

Issa, 54, allegedly gave the cooperators a $650 steak-and-crab-legs dinner, a tablet computer, two bottles of Johnnie Walker Black and $2,000 tucked into a napkin at a restaurant in Chinatown. He faces up to 25 years in prison for bribery and theft.