The owner of a New York trucking company has been sentenced to 45 months in prison for filing fraudulent documents and making false statements to a federal agency.
On Thursday, March 20, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York announced sentencing for Tony Kirik, also known as Anatoliy Kirik, who prosecutors said operated a “multiple million-dollar trucking business”.
According to court documents, Kirik went to “extensive efforts” to avoid having the “conditional” safety rating assigned to his company – Orange Transportation Services, Inc. – carry forward to a new company he established, operating as Dallas Logistics, Inc.
Court documents show Kirik used a dozen “chameleon carriers” to operate his trucking business while concealing the connection between those entities from federal investigators.
“To trick the FMSCA regarding the safety of this trucking business, Kirik started new companies using various family members’ names and an employee’s name to make it appear that these new companies were independent and not affiliated with the prior business that incurred the negative safety ratings, when in fact, the new company was merely an extension of the prior company,” prosecutors said.
On top of the false statements, prosecutors said that Kirik orchestrated an “elaborate ruse” by setting up a fake office for the trucking business and inviting FMCSA to conduct a compliance audit at the false address.
“The defendant’s motive in this case is greed,” prosecutors said in their trial brief. “Among other impacts, the defendant would have lost significant revenue from clients for having a Conditional Rating by the USDOT.”
Kirik was convicted in June 2024 on seven counts of providing false documents and information to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in an attempt to conceal an unsatisfactory safety rating.
Among the charges were:
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States and FMCSA
- Knowingly making and using materially false and fraudulent documents in a matter within the jurisdiction of the federal government
- Falsification of a record with the intent to impede, obstruct and influence FMCSA’s investigation
- Making and aiding and abetting in the making of false statements to an FMCSA investigator
“At trial, it was shown that Kirik’s actions jeopardized the safety of the nation’s highways and roadways from unsafe tractor trailers,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. LL
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