Title Games: A Used‑Car Front and the Money It Hid

When a simple public‑records search turned up thousands of duplicate vehicle titles tied to a single used‑car dealer, it looked like paperwork fraud. The deeper I dug, the less ordinary the shop became: export manifests sending entire lots overseas, a chain of shell buyers on bank records, and a landlord with quiet ties to power brokers in town. In ten minutes I reconstruct how title‑switching and fast exports can turn cars into clean cash for organized networks, who benefits, and why local enforcement missed the pattern for years. This episode follows the documents, a whistleblower mechanic, a sealed search warrant, and one unexpected ledger entry that reframes the whole operation. I separate what records show, what witnesses allege, and what remains unproven — ending on the single contradiction that still refuses to add up.