Briefly: Employee allegedly embezzled $500,000 from GA carrier -

A former operations manager at a Georgia trucking company was recently charged with embezzling more than $500,000 from the firm.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Dustin Jarrard, was arraigned on federal charges after he allegedly embezzled more than half a million dollars from Tribe Transportation, a carrier based in Gainesville, Georgia.

According to U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court from May 2018 through May 2024, Jarrard served as an operations manager for Tribe Transportation. As an operations manager, Jarrard had the authority to request expense reimbursements on behalf of drivers. To submit a request, Jarrard would send the company’s accounting department the driver’s name, the reason for the expense, and the amount of the reimbursement.

Over the course of more than three years, Jarrard sent fraudulent reimbursement requests to the company, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office. In certain cases, Jarrard is said to have requested reimbursement for drivers who were not actually employed by the company, which resulted in payments Jarrard personally redeemed for his own use.

In other cases, Jarrard allegedly enlisted Tribe Transportation drivers in his scheme and falsely submitted payment requests for expenses they never incurred and layover bonuses that were not earned. After receiving funds that were not owed to them, the drivers are said to have transferred some of the money to Jarrard for his personal use.

Jarrard, 38, was arraigned recently before United States Magistrate Judge Anna W. Howard after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 22 for wire fraud.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

DAT acquires Convoy Platform

DAT Freight & Analytics has agreed to acquire the Convoy Platform from Flexport, adding automation and digital freight-matching technology to its product portfolio.

The Convoy Platform provides freight brokers with a way to automate virtually every aspect of the freight transaction and connect with trusted trucking companies. It is an ideal complement to DAT One, DAT’s flagship subscription-based load board, where nearly 700,000 loads are posted daily, according to a statement from DAT.

According to DAT, the acquisition will enhance its innovative team and technology by adding:

Deep experience: The Convoy Platform’s engineers, product experts, and operations professionals will continue to be led by Bill Driegert, who will join DAT’s executive leadership team.
Fraud prevention at scale: The Convoy Platform’s proprietary technology uses machine learning and AI models to verify carriers on the network and block malicious actors. With these advanced security features built in, brokers can reduce their risk of fraud and access a trusted network of carrier capacity, all while increasing their efficiency and growing their business.
Easy-to-use mobile experience: The Convoy Platform is recognized for high carrier satisfaction and usability. Today, nearly 30,000 carriers—primarily owner-operators and small trucking companies—use the app to find loads, manage paperwork, receive payments, and more.
Fast, reliable payments: Every carrier on the Convoy Platform is eligible to get paid via QuickPay. It’s easy to use and available on every load on the platform, providing another option for fast payouts to carriers.

DAT will ultimately integrate the Convoy Platform into its DAT One product. This will allow brokers to seamlessly access both automated and hands-on freight-matching options, and give carriers a faster, easier way to find quality loads from trusted brokers, supported by DAT’s scale and reach.