Only 349 F50 Ferraris were made yet this is the third one we have reported on just recently. How many F50s have thieves taken over the years? This particular F50 Ferrari was found in 2019 but was stolen in 2003. Now a number of claimants have come forward to the extent that the feds don’t know who actually owns it.

Right before Christmas in 2019 this 1996 F50 popped up at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry in Buffalo, New York. Police were suspicious of it because the VIN plate was partially blocked off. So the authorities placed a hold on the exotic red Ferrari. It sat for a month before police got back to the port.

Sure enough, it was reported stolen back in 2003. Now the US Attorney’s Office says that “multiple parties have claimed ownership of the vehicle.” And just to put this in context the outside appraisal the port had done of it says it is worth exactly $1,949,669. 

Now a number of claimants show ownership of the F50 Ferrari

The problem now is that a number of claimants show ownership. The Italian man from whom the Ferrari was stolen in 2003 is one of them. Another is a man from Florida who paid $1.435 million online in September 2019 for the F50.  

This all started when the officers looked at the VIN the dash. The rivets holding it onto the dash had a black substance covering them which partially blocked the numbers. Comparing images of other F50 VIN plates online the officers saw they had none of the black glue-like gunk on them. That’s when they decided to place the hold on the Ferrari.

At the time it was rolling through the port on a commercial carrier. It was being delivered to Mohammed Alsaloussi of Miami, Florida. The Canadian license plate on the Ferrari was registered to Ikonick Collection Ltd., in Edmonton. Ikonick is a holding company for Alsaloussi’s car collection.

Provenzi had never recovered the F50 according to records kept by Ferrari

When the National Insurance Crime Bureau saw the VIN plate it sent images to Ferrari Italy according to Assistant US Attorney Paul C Parisi. Ferrari got back to the NICB with the stolen info within a month of the request. Provenzi had never recovered the car according to records kept by Ferrari. 

But there are twists. Two years ago Provenzi was contacted by a man from Japan. He requested that Provenzi withdraw the police report according to Provenzi’s lawyer Alessandra Piras. “When this is over, there’s going to be a movie made about this,” Piras said. “This car has been going around the world, apparently. It was in Japan for a while.” She told the Buffalo News the mystery surrounding the F50 is a “complicated story.” But she would not say more beyond that.

Alsaloussi and his Ikonick Collection will be filing papers soon as well. “We have been eagerly awaiting the filing of this action and believe our client has a very strong claim of ownership of the vehicle,” said attorney Richard F. O’Neill. “We look forward to resolving this matter.”

Then the CBP received an ownership claim from Alsaloussi

Once seizure notices were sent the CBP got a petition request from Provenzi. It granted Provenzi’s petition and was ready to turn the red Ferrari over to him after storage and administration costs of $8,476 were paid. Then the CBP received an ownership claim from Alsaloussi.

Alsaloussi says he had no information that the car had been stolen. So now the US Attorney’s Office has “great doubt” as to who owns the Ferrari. “After investigation, my office determined that it would not be appropriate for us to exercise our authority and forfeit this extremely valuable and previously stolen luxury car,” said U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. in a statement. “Instead, after an 18-year odyssey, which we know took it across continents and countries, we have decided that the time has come for a court of law to determine the rightful owner of the vehicle.”  

Parisi wants to wash the feds’ hands of the whole matter. It wants a federal court to remove the government from any liability and to award it for storage and admin costs. Then for it to determine who the rightful owner really is.