Ernest García II (born May 1, 1957) is an American billionaire businessman, in the used car sector. He is the owner of DriveTime (originally named UglyDuckling), and a major shareholder of Carvana. In 1990 he pled guilty to a felony bank fraud charge for his role in the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association collapse. As of January 2025, his net worth was estimated at US$20.7 billion.[1]
Early life
Ernest García II was born May 1, 1957,[2] the son of Ernest Garcia, who co-owned a liquor store with Frank Colaianni, and was once the mayor of Gallup, New Mexico.[3] He dropped out, but eventually earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona.[3]
Career
In October 1990, García, then a Tucson-based real estate developer pleaded guilty to a felony bank fraud charge for his role as a straw borrower in the collapse of Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.[4] Garcia "fraudulently obtained a $30-million line of credit in a series of transactions that also helped Lincoln hide its ownership in risky desert Arizona land from regulators."[4] Garcia spent three years on probation, and he and his firm filed for bankruptcy.[5]
In 1991, García bought Ugly Duckling, a bankrupt rent-a-car franchise, for under $1 million and merged it with his own fledgling finance company, and turned it into a company selling and financing used cars for sub-prime buyers with poor credit history.[5] Garcia took the company public on the NASDAQ exchange in 1996, trading under the ticker "UGLY".[6] In 1999, Garcia was involved in six lawsuits alleging he had "abused his position to profit" from a real estate deal where he ultimately acquired 17 company properties at a 10% discount.[5] In 2002, Garcia and the former Ugly Duckling CEO, Gregory Sullivan, took the company private and renamed it DriveTime.[7]
As of April 2021, García's net worth is estimated at $15.9 billion.[8]
It was announced in September 2021 that Garcia had sold more than $3.6 billion of Carvana stock since the previous October, which amounted to 16% of his holdings in the company.[9]
Personal life
He is married, and lives in Tempe, Arizona.[10] His son, Ernest Garcia III, is CEO of Carvana.[3]
Garcia owns an apartment in New York's Trump Tower.[3]
References
- Ernest Garcia, II. Forbes, retrieved 2025-05-23^
- Bloomberg Billionaires Index Bloomberg.com, retrieved 2020-12-02^
- Nathan Vardi. How An Ex-Con Became A Billionaire From Used Cars Forbes, retrieved 9 January 2018^
- JAMES S. GRANELLI. Lincoln S&L Figure Pleads Guilty to Fraud : Crime: Ernest C. García II admits acting to help the thrift hide its ownership of some risky desert land in Arizona. Los Angeles Times, 31 October 1990, retrieved 9 January 2018^
- Nathan Vardi. Feathered Nest Forbes, retrieved 9 January 2018^
- Larry BaumanDow Jones News Services. Small Stocks Fall Sharply, Hurt by Technology Sector Wall Street Journal, 1996-06-19, retrieved 2020-04-30^
- DriveTime car chain coming to Denver Denver Business Journal, January 31, 2007^
- Ernest García, II. Forbes, retrieved 2021-07-14^
- Ben Foldy. WSJ News Exclusive Wall Street Journal, 2021-09-17, retrieved 2021-09-17^
- Forbes profile: Ernest Garcia II Forbes, retrieved 7 January 2025^