If you know anything about In-N-Out, you know that it rarely strays away from the west coast, but this guy convinced people that the burger joint was headed east, to the Middle East.

According to Los Angeles Times, Craig Stevens, 55, allegedly took $4 million from investors as he said he was opening In-N-Out franchises in the Middle East.

It all began in January 2014, when Stevens emailed investors, trying to raise $150,000 per store and according to the charges, he got $4.27 million out of it. In June 2014, it was alleged that Stevens committed wire fraud by passing off a fake In-N-Out licensing agreements to Lebanese investors.

Someone must have eventually smartened up and realized that In-N-Out is privately-owned and doesn't have any third-party partnerships, because this whole thing had Stevens sitting in Santa Ana's federal courts Monday, pleading 'Not guilty.'

Surely east coasters in the US would have been pissed if another country got In-N-Out before they did, but don't worry, they're still sitting nice and comfy in this beautiful west coast weather.

picthx 4cornersaustin