Today in motorcycle history, August 12, 1997

                                    



 

 

  After hearing nine days of testimony from several witnesses who invested their life savings and saw all or most of the money vanish, a federal jury in Springfield, Massachusetts, took about an hour Monday to find Philip S. Zanghi II guilty of 23 counts of securities fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

  1990, Zanghi approached officials in Springfield about finding a suitable plant site promising jobs and vowing to begin production of Indian Motorcycles, the iconic brand and rival of Harley-Davidson, and by 1992 turned his focus to a vacant, 276,000-square-foot building that at one time was used for the growing of mushrooms (the non-magical variety) in East Windsor, Connecticut.  Without ever signing a lease, he built gates there emblazoned with the Indian logo.

  All the while, Zanghi was selling stock in his company and selling licensing agreements to the old- fashioned, cursive "Indian'' logo for tens of thousands of dollars.  Swindling investors from as far away as Sweden, Greece and Austrialia.

  Prosecutors charged Zanghi with bilking more than 30 investors of $830,000 through fraudulent stock sales and licensing agreements.  Among the victims were Zanghi's stepfather, who invested $32,000, and an uncle and aunt, who invested $50,000.  I think it's safe to say he got scratched from their Christmas list. 

  In mid-1993, Zanghi gave upon his plan to use the East Windsor building, moved out of the $600,000 house he was leasing on Wyngate Drive in Avon, Connecticut, and moved to North Carolina with his wife and three children.

  After his Indian Motocycle Co. went into bankruptcy and authorities there impounded Zanghi's Rolls Royce, Ferrari and six other cars, prosecutors say Zanghi went to Marbella, Spain.  He was arrested at a luxury hotel in New York City in June 1996.

  On December 17, 1997 the rat-bastard was sentenced to 7 1/2 years.