Mother Jones: Bernie Moreno Says He Built His Car Dealer Empire All on His Own. The Reality Is More Complicated.

Columbus, OH – Recent reporting from Mother Jones exposed that while Moreno has made an “??up-by-the-boostraps tale” central to his campaign and claims he “built his car dealer empire all on his own,” “the reality is more complicated.” Mother Jones found that Moreno actually received “much-needed handout[s],” “special favors,” and “financial assistance” throughout his career and even “leveraged his family connections” and the “Moreno Family cash reserves” to enrich himself.

What You Need To Know About The “Special Favors” And “Family Cash Reserves” Behind Bernie Moreno’s Career:

• Bernie Moreno “leveraged his family connections” to secure, in Moreno’s words, “really favorable lease terms” on a planned Infiniti dealership in the Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami.

• In his company’s proposal for the planned dealership, Moreno listed his “Moreno Family cash reserves” as part of the assets he was willing to invest in the dealership. Moreno also received a “much-needed handout” of “$4.4 million in financial assistance” from Infiniti, the luxury vehicle division of the foreign automaker Nissan.

• Past court records show this is not the only time Moreno received “financial assistance” from Nissan. Nissan gave Moreno $1.25 million for an Akron dealership and another $4.4 million for two dealerships in the Cleveland area.

• Bernie Moreno got a “a sweetheart deal” on his first car dealership in Ohio that “Mercedes-Benz had pulled strings to get him.”

• This is the latest example of the “much-needed handout[s],” “special favors,” and “financial assistance” Moreno received to build his network of car dealerships that made him “enormously rich.”

SEE ALSO: The Real Story Behind “Self-Made” Car Salesman Bernie Moreno: “Family Cash,” “Much-Needed Handout[s],” “Special Favors” and A “Sweetheart Deal”