Two men have been charged with defrauding a dozen victims out of nearly $4 million in a luxury automobile sublease scam, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced today.

Arman Mave Hazarian, 47, also known as Dean Hazarian, of Tarzana, and Afshin Hashemi, 47, also known as Al Hashemi, of Hollywood, face 40 felony counts of grand theft of an automobile and six felony counts of grand theft. The charges include allegations of taking more than $500,000 through fraud and embezzlement and taking property valued at more than $3.2 million.

Hazarian and Hashemi allegedly used internet ads to convince investors to lease or purchase luxury vehicles and turn them over to the defendants, who were supposed to sublease the vehicles at a profit, said Deputy District Attorney Alex Karkanen of the Automobile Insurance Fraud Division. The men are accused of selling the automobiles to unsuspecting buyers and pocketing the cash.

Some of the victims allegedly provided multiple cars to the defendants, resulting in losses of up to $750,000. Hazarian and Hashemi also are accused of defrauding the secondary buyers by receiving money for the vehicles but never signing over the titles.

The defendants face 15 years and four months in state prison.