AKHLAGHI

Reza Akhlaghi, Pablo Garro, Jose Medina, Arianna Barros, Oscar Molina, Sunday Loyola, Apolinar Contreras, and Roberto Alvarez are salesmen, sales managers, and credit managers at North County Toyota of Anaheim. They challenge the trial court’s order denying their Penal Code section 995 motion to set aside their indictment for conspiracy to submit false written financial statements. (Pen. Code, §§ 182, subd. (a), 532a, subd. (1); all further undesignated section references are to the Penal Code.) The overt acts charged in the indictment boil down to submission of false Social Security numbers to assist customers in obtaining credit to purchase vehicles.

Petitioners argued below that submitting the false Social Security numbers did not violate section 532a, subdivision (1), which penalizes a knowing “false statement in writing . . . respecting the financial condition, or means or ability to pay, of himself, or any other person . . . .” (Italics added.) Petitioners relied on People v. Vincent (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 696, 702 [ 23 Cal.Rptr.2d 714 ] (Vincent), which held false statements concerning a name, address, or Social Security number “d[o] not involve financial condition…