Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, March 13, 2025:
Former truck driver pleads guilty to fraudulently obtaining government benefits
A former truck driver pleaded guilty on Feb. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut to charges of fraud related to a scheme to obtain Social Security, unemployment and food stamp benefits.
According to the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, Ricardo Santiago, between 2002 and 2024, held jobs with more than 20 employers and earned more than $500,000 in income, including work as a truck driver with a CDL for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration-regulated companies.
OIG reported that Santiago concealed this income from federal and state government agencies by providing employers false identification, including a Social Security number (SSN) and card belonging to another individual, and a false Social Security card.
Beginning in 2002, Santiago would go on to collect more than $316,000 in Retirement Survivors Disability Insurance benefits by falsely representing that he was unable to work due to disability. Santiago also made more than $18,000 in purchases using food stamps he received by falsely claiming that he earned no income from employment beginning in 2017.
In addition, from April 2020 to February 2021, Santiago received more than $36,000 in unemployment insurance benefits by using a SSN belonging to another individual and claiming he was unemployed but available for work and physically able to work.
DOT-OIG conducted the investigation with Social Security Administration-OIG, Department of Labor-OIG, and U.S. Department of Agriculture-OIG.
[Related: Safeguard your trucking company's certificate of insurance to avoid being an identity theft victim]
New avenue to usage-based insurance banks another $80M in venture funding
The relatively young Nirvana Insurance company, calling itself an "AI-driven commercial trucking insurer," announced $80 million in funding following a year in which the company collected $100M-plus in premiums from commercial clients. The new investment, the company said, will help in Nirvana's expansion and continued pursuit of tech advancements relative to commercial fleet insurance.
The company noted it has two different insurance programs, one for "non-fleet" customers -- otherwise known as small trucking companies with 1-9 power units. The fleet program insures companies of 10 or more trucks. Both include options for primary commercial auto liability up to $1M, physical damage, general liability if needed, and cargo insurance up to $250K.
The company focuses its efforts on pricing with "proprietary AI models" built on "20 billion miles of real-world driving" data connected to fleet telematics for what it believes is more accurate "risk assessment, underwriting, pricing, claims processing, and an overall better customer experience."
Said Rushil Goel, CEO of Nirvana Insurance, "Nirvana is transforming the insurance experience with AI that helps us better understand the real world risk that every individual fleet presents [to ensure] fleets have access to personalized, real-time insurance solutions that reward safety -- it's a fairer approach for the fleets, and a more profitable approach for an insurance carrier."
[Related: Usage-based insurance: Trucking's best-kept secret?]
Moving company employees sentenced for fraud scheme
An employee of various New York-based moving companies was sentenced to time in prison, and co-conspirators were ordered to pay restitution, for roles in a household goods moving fraud scheme.
On February 19, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York sentenced Kristy Mak to two years in prison, one year of supervised release, a $30,000 forfeiture, and a $100 special assessment.
On December 11, 2023, a jury convicted Mak and co-conspirator Andre Prince, both former employees of various moving companies, including Brooklyn-based Great Movers, Inc., of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent moving company scheme.
Between at least January 2017 and August 2020, the defendants worked for multiple moving companies that operated under various names, including Great Moving USA, Green Movers, and New City Moves. Mak, a customer service representative for the companies, and Prince, a member of the sales team and supervised by Mak, lured customers to these movers by posting fake reviews online and directing sales associates to low-ball the costs of moving household goods.
After customers signed a contract and, in some cases, after movers loaded the customers' belongings onto trucks, the movers would suddenly add new fees. Customers could not reach the sales associates about these additional fees and drivers threatened to hold customers’ goods hostage unless they paid them.
The court ordered defendants Mak, Prince, Kristen Smith and Paula Jones to pay $1,795,950 in restitution, apportioned evenly among their victims.
The investigation into the scheme was conducted by the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
