It will probably sound insane to anyone who wasn’t on YouTube a decade ago, but this bespectacled man, his Lamborghini, and his bookcase were absolutely inescapable circa 2015. The “here in my garage” guy was a preroll ad on what seemed like every YouTube video for a while there, and was referenced and parodied all over the place. He resurfaced in the news this week—and the news is not good.
Tai Lopez, the dude in the video proclaiming to be prouder of his books than his Gallardo, is (was?) a financial advice YouTuber. His channel still has a substantial following (2.49 million subs as of this writing) but relatively few views on recent uploads. He’s definitely still active, though; he posted a new video just last week.
This is a little outside the scope of what we normally talk about on The Drive, but the first 15 seconds of that video were so omnipresent, I feel like it became (a strange, tiny) part of car culture and I have to admit I was curious to learn what the Here In My Garage guy is in trouble for.
Last Friday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged “Taino Lopez and Alexander Mehr, co-founders of Retail Ecommerce Ventures LLC (‘REV’), and its Chief Operating Officer, Maya Burkenroad (collectively, ‘Defendants’), with conducting a series of fraudulent securities offerings, misusing investor funds, and making Ponzi-like payments to investors.”
As CBS reported, “Through their holding company, Mehr and Lopez acquired distressed brick-and-mortar companies in order to turn them into successful, online-only brands. Dress Barn and Linens ‘n Things were also among their acquisitions.” At least, that was the publicly promoted side of the operation.
You can examine the official SEC complaint as it was filed in a Florida court if you care to dive in. But the short story is, the SEC says Lopez and associates “raised approximately $112 million from hundreds of investors through fraudulent offerings,” moved money between investors to trick them into thinking they were making dividends, and “misappropriated approximately $16.1 million in investor funds for Lopez’s and Mehr’s personal use.”
Well, heck, was Lopez lying about preferring “knowledge” to “materialistic things” all this time? Shoot, if we can’t trust bragadocious bros on YouTube, I don’t even know anymore, guys.
Lopez and Mehr are now being charged with “violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.” Next, courts will decide what the future holds for them.
Here’s the video that haunted everyone’s feed for months about 10 years ago:
And if you want to keep cruising down memory lane—or didn’t believe me when I said this was famous enough to be parodied—here are a few of the reactions it inspired. They don’t all seem as funny in 2025, but:
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Automotive journalist since 2013, Andrew primarily coordinates features, sponsored content, and multi-departmental initiatives at The Drive.
