The multimillion dollar car collection of an imprisoned YouTube star is set to be auctioned off in Maryland.
Bill Omar Carrasquillo — the man behind the popular YouTube channel “Omi in a Hellcat” — was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for a scheme that involved piracy of cable TV, access device fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of copyright infringement.
In addition to his prison sentence, he was subject to forfeit $30 million, and about $3 million in high-end exotic cars.
“Some Lamborghinis, some Bentleys and Jeeps,” said Jennifer Crane, assistant chief of the Asset Forfeiture Division of the U.S. Marshals Service. “And, a few SUVs, some ATVs and dirt bikes.”
Carrasquillo’s channel included produced videos, set to a hip hop beat, in which he shows off his collection of cars and diamond-encrusted jewelry.
Omi in a Hellcat’s bling will be auctioned off at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday, Oct. 13 at 11 a.m.
“This will be our very first live auction since COVID, since 2019,” Crane said, adding that online bidding is already underway.
Since the pandemic, the marshals service’s auctions have been solely online. Now, potential bidders can see the vehicles up close.
“These are a little bit better than coming off a used car lot, because someone actually had them in their garages before we took them,” as part of the seizure process before and during trials. “Before we took them someone was probably taking really good care of them.”
Crane said that the U.S. Marshals Service is the property custodians of the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund — established in 1984.
“It’s a major law enforcement win, to be able to take the items away from the bad guys, liquidate them to get the highest that can gather from the car sales, to be able to provide some of the proceeds back to the victims” of the criminal whose assets were seized and forfeited, she added.
Crane said members of the public are often fascinated by the items owned and seized in well-known criminal cases.
“We sold an Igloo cooler for about $4,000, just because it was owned by Bernie Madoff,” she said of the Ponzi schemer who died in prison at the age of 82.
Crane said $1.6 million in pre-bids have already been accepted for the “Omi on the Hellcat” auction in only two days.
“I think the ability to attend a live auction and see these cars is really going to pique people’s interest,” she said.
