Salt Lake Trucking Group Guilty of $108M Fraud Against FedEx, Bribing Employees

A federal jury has convicted two Utah-based trucking executives, Yevgeny Tuchinsky and Konstantin Tomilin, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against shipping giant FedEx Ground. Tuchinsky and Tomilin were the owners of Salt Lake Trucking Group (SLTG), a conglomerate of trucking companies that contracted with FedEx to provide transportation services.

What happened?

According to prosecutors, from 2009 to 2019, the defendants bribed FedEx employees over $300,000 in exchange for awarding inflated shipping miles and business to their companies. In total, SLTG received $108 million in payments from FedEx over the 10-year period that the government contends were obtained unethically through the bribery scheme.

Tuchinsky and Tomilin also allegedly engaged in deception to conceal their misconduct from FedEx and avoid contract termination. This included utilizing shell companies to hide SLTG's ownership stakes, providing false driver credentials, and failing to disclose required accident reports.

The government argued that had FedEx uncovered the bribery or deception, they would have severed all business ties with the defendants' companies. Tuchinsky and Tomilin personally profited $7 million and $4 million respectively from the scheme as estimated by prosecutors.

The recent jury verdict serves as a stark warning to other businesses that engaging in commercial bribery or fraudulent activities to gain an unfair advantage over competitors will ultimately be exposed. The convictions make clear that even well-resourced executives cannot escape the reach of the law through deceitful business dealings.

Companies like FedEx will need to be more vigilant in detecting such illegal schemes and must fully cooperate with authorities to uphold justice when found.

“Before they delivered packages, these men and their teammates delivered cash bribes,” said Stephen Dent, Assistant United States Attorney during trial. “Before their trucks pulled away from the hub to go on a run, they lied and they bribed to even get that run. $108 million by cheating.”

Courtesy: US Justice Dept.