Singer Adam Levine claims the 1971 Maserati that he got from a prominent classic car broker is a fake.
Levine, the frontman for pop rock band Maroon 5, has filed a lawsuit against Rick Cole, whose celebrity customer roster has included Jay Leno and Frank Sinatra. The suit said Levine gave Cole two Ferraris and $100,000 cash in exchange for what he believed was a rare Ghibli 4.9-liter Spyder.
The suit said because Maserati made only about 25 such cars, an authentic one would be worth more than $1 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. But Levine later discovered that it had a duplicate VIN and had been withdrawn from an auction in 2015 after questions arose about its veracity, the suit said.
Cole, whose website touts more than 50 years of experience as an “internationally recognized sales agent, auctioneer, and appraiser of investment grade automobiles,” knew the car wasn’t genuine and intentionally concealed its true history, the suit said.
“Someone tried to make the Vehicle appear authentic by reproducing or stamping a new chassis plate to make the writing seem more like that used by Maserati at the time, in an obvious attempt to convince a potential buyer” that it was genuine, the suit said. “Upon information and belief, it was Cole and/or his agents who made these changes.”