Wires Only Lawsuit: RD Whittington’s Arrest and $11M Judgment

The Wires Only lawsuits are a growing set of civil cases and a parallel police fraud investigation accusing Beverly Hills luxury dealer RD Whittington of selling consigned and leased vehicles without authorization, pocketing large deposits, failing to transfer titles, and misrepresenting cars to buyers. By late 2024, Whittington faced at least a dozen civil suits from former clients, an $11 million sister-state judgment out of Arizona, and an active Beverly Hills Police Department investigation into grand theft auto allegations.¹²

The Alleged Scheme

Private investigator Matthew DeLisio, who represents multiple Whittington victims, described Wires Only as a largely virtual operation. Cars were advertised on the dealership’s website that were, according to DeLisio, already sold, nonexistent, or never authorized for sale by their legal owners.³

The alleged conduct fell into a few recurring patterns. Owners who consigned cars to Wires Only for resale said the vehicles were handed off to third parties to settle Whittington’s personal debts instead of being sold and paid out.³ Auto lessors said Whittington leased high-end cars from them and then listed and sold those cars through the dealership without their knowledge.² Buyers said cars were misrepresented; in one instance, a standard Mercedes G-Wagon was sold as a “Brabus 700” without the modifications that designation requires.

DeLisio said Whittington routed payments through wire transfers and issued temporary vehicle permits through Arizona rather than California, sidestepping California regulatory oversight. He also maintained multiple companies with similar names across different states, which investigators said made vehicles and assets harder to trace. Investigators later found that the dealership itself had been operating without a business license, without a California DMV dealer license, and without required city permits.³

Spencer Dinwiddie’s $350,000 Ferrari Deposit

NBA guard Spencer Dinwiddie sued Wires Only and its former general manager, Chadwick Hopkins, in Los Angeles County Superior Court in June 2024. Dinwiddie had bought a 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby from the dealership in November 2022 for $699,000. In early 2023, he agreed to buy a 2022 Ferrari SF90 Spider for $1.05 million and paid a $350,000 deposit.⁴

According to the complaint, the Ferrari purchase depended on Wires Only selling the Mustang first, and the parties agreed that Wires Only would buy back the Ferrari if the Mustang didn’t sell within 45 days. Dinwiddie said the dealership neither sold the Mustang, nor took back the Ferrari, nor returned his deposit. Whittington denied any Wires Only involvement in either transaction and said the company was named in error. Hopkins characterized the $350,000 as an installment payment on the Ferrari rather than a refundable deposit and denied that the Mustang sale was a condition of the deal.⁴

Lin Zhang and the $321,315 Rolls-Royce

Irvine resident Lin Zhang and his company LNJ Capital, Inc. sued Whittington Motor Sports, Inc., doing business as Wires Only, in July 2024. Zhang had paid $321,315 in full for a 2020 Rolls-Royce Cullinan but said the dealership never transferred the title or registration, despite charging him for it, and falsely told him the car came with a manufacturer warranty.¹

Zhang’s attorney, Michael Klitzke, said it appeared that neither the dealership nor Whittington had the legal right to sell the vehicle at all, and that they had not paid the taxes, license fees, or registration fees owed to the DMV.¹ The complaint alleges breach of contract, civil theft, fraud and deceit, and negligent misrepresentation.⁵ Klitzke said he was already representing at least one other plaintiff with a similar case and that additional people had contacted him with “nearly identical claims.” Plaintiffs’ requests for default judgment against Whittington Motor Sports were rejected by the court clerk in early 2025.

Adin Ross and the “Mansory” Cullinan

Internet personality Adin Ross sued Whittington and Wires Only in October 2024, alleging breach of contract, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, conversion, and civil theft.⁶ According to court filings, Ross was encouraged in October 2023 to trade in a 2017 Rolls-Royce Dawn for what the dealership called a “custom and rare” Whitebody Mansory Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Ross said the car turned out to be a standard Cullinan fitted with aftermarket Mansory parts rather than a factory Mansory build, and that the defendants knew the price gap between the two.⁷

Ross also alleged that Whittington never transferred title to him despite receiving full payment and engaged in “title jumping” by reselling a vehicle he never legally held. The car was ultimately repossessed.⁷⁶

The $11 Million Arizona Judgment

In August 2024, a single unnamed plaintiff secured judgments totaling more than $11 million against Whittington across three separate cases, based on a sister-state judgment out of Arizona.¹ The plaintiff’s identity and the underlying facts of those cases were not publicly reported.

Criminal Arrest and Police Investigation

On September 10, 2024, the Beverly Hills Police Department arrested Whittington on an out-of-state warrant from Nevada. The warrant carried two felony charges, theft valued between $5,000 and $25,000 and drawing or passing a check with intent to defraud, tied to a $13,525 debt owed to the MGM Grand Casino. Whittington was booked and released the same day. He later paid the debt in full, Nevada declined to extradite, and the Nevada justice court dismissed the case.⁸

A separate BHPD fraud investigation opened in October 2024, confirmed by Lt. Andrew Myers. Three auto lessors accused Whittington of grand theft auto, saying he leased high-end cars from them and then sold those cars through Wires Only without permission. DeLisio said he had filed grand theft auto reports for three victimized lenders and that “multiple agencies in multiple states” were working to recover vehicles and assist victims.²

Recovered Vehicles and the Dealership’s Closure

By late 2024, investigators had tracked down at least three vehicles tied to the alleged fraud. A Ferrari 488 was surrendered in Arizona. A Brabus Mercedes G-Wagon was recovered on October 13, 2024, after the person holding it surrendered it; the car had put on roughly 13,500 additional miles and was in poor mechanical condition. A Rolls-Royce Cullinan was seized in Irvine after a local task force executed a warrant on a garage, where DeLisio said the possessor had taken “dangerous steps to hide the car.”³

The dealership itself came apart in parallel. The Beverly Hills Planning Commission denied Wires Only’s conditional use permit application in June 2024, and Whittington missed the deadline to pay the appeal fee, making the denial final.⁹ Wires Only was subsequently evicted from its Beverly Hills showroom at 9030 Wilshire Boulevard and from its West Los Angeles location, and the company’s website had been deactivated by December 2024.³

If You Bought a Car From Wires Only

DeLisio advised anyone who purchased a vehicle from Whittington to contact the Arizona Department of Transportation or local law enforcement to check whether the car had been reported stolen.³ Zhang’s attorney Michael Klitzke has said he is representing multiple plaintiffs with similar claims and has been contacted by others reporting nearly identical experiences, which suggests the pool of potential civil claimants is still growing.¹

1
Beverly Press. Wires Only Auto Dealer Arrested in Beverly Hills
2
Beverly Press. BHPD Investigating RD Whittington
3
Beverly Press. Cars Sold by Whittington Found by Investigators
4
Los Angeles Times. Laker Spencer Dinwiddie Sues Car Dealer Over Ferrari
5
Trellis Law. Lin Zhang, Et Al. vs. Whittington Motor Sports, Inc., Et Al.
6
Trellis Law. Adin Ross vs. R.D. Whittington, Et Al.
7
UniCourt. Adin Ross vs. R.D. Whittington, Et Al.
8
TMZ. Million Dollar Wheels’ RD Whittington Arrested for Fraud
9
Beverly Press. Wires Only Gets Its Wires Crossed Again