See my reply to @rtpg. The short answer is that it is believed they are selling high-risk loans to a company they control, making it look like the publicly traded Carvana is some kind of miracle in the car industry while offloading the risk to anonymous shell companies.
Time will tell if it’s a ponzi or not. I am not fully convinced but it will be interesting to see, the family dynamic is always a bit suspicious and especially how they were at the end of a rope post Covid.
"In January 2025, short-selling investment firm Hindenburg Research published a report titled "Carvana: A Father-Son Accounting Grift For The Ages," in which it disclosed a short position against the company. The report alleged that Carvana's financial turnaround was a "mirage" propped up by accounting manipulation and lax loan underwriting."
"A class-action securities fraud lawsuit is proceeding against Carvana, its founders, executives, and underwriters in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona."
(i have no opinion on the matter, just functioning as your google)
> i have no opinion on the matter, just functioning as your google
If you don’t have anything constructive to add there is zero reason to be a dick.
These are only claims and we will still have to see if the claims become true. Going back to my point it’s hard to say to a fact that it’s a fraudulent company. The financing arm is hardly unique and if they indeed are running a ponzi it would be surprising it could last so long.
>...if they indeed are running a ponzi it would be surprising it could last so long.
There's a practice in the loan industry called "pretend and extend," which basically means endlessly extending credit to lendees who are behind to avoid acknowledging the loss. Remember, in Carvana's case the loan buyer only exists to take on debt, not be a going concern. I think much of the market actually realizes Carvana is a scam, they just see that it is a relatively sustainable one as long as the government doesn't step in. And they don't see that happening, particularly with the current administration.
See my reply to @rtpg. The short answer is that it is believed they are selling high-risk loans to a company they control, making it look like the publicly traded Carvana is some kind of miracle in the car industry while offloading the risk to anonymous shell companies.
Time will tell if it’s a ponzi or not. I am not fully convinced but it will be interesting to see, the family dynamic is always a bit suspicious and especially how they were at the end of a rope post Covid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carvana#Controversy
"In January 2025, short-selling investment firm Hindenburg Research published a report titled "Carvana: A Father-Son Accounting Grift For The Ages," in which it disclosed a short position against the company. The report alleged that Carvana's financial turnaround was a "mirage" propped up by accounting manipulation and lax loan underwriting."
"A class-action securities fraud lawsuit is proceeding against Carvana, its founders, executives, and underwriters in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona."
(i have no opinion on the matter, just functioning as your google)
> i have no opinion on the matter, just functioning as your google
If you don’t have anything constructive to add there is zero reason to be a dick.
These are only claims and we will still have to see if the claims become true. Going back to my point it’s hard to say to a fact that it’s a fraudulent company. The financing arm is hardly unique and if they indeed are running a ponzi it would be surprising it could last so long.
>...if they indeed are running a ponzi it would be surprising it could last so long.
There's a practice in the loan industry called "pretend and extend," which basically means endlessly extending credit to lendees who are behind to avoid acknowledging the loss. Remember, in Carvana's case the loan buyer only exists to take on debt, not be a going concern. I think much of the market actually realizes Carvana is a scam, they just see that it is a relatively sustainable one as long as the government doesn't step in. And they don't see that happening, particularly with the current administration.
Madoff’s scheme ran for nearly 15 years, starting in earnest possibly 20 years before that.
I think “long” is very relative to the scam.
Carvana has been written about in the WSJ in glowing articles, that now have shifted to a questioning tone. This may be that inflection point.
https://hindenburgresearch.com/carvana/