FMCSA denied a request from a fleet seeking a four-month HOS exemption due to supply chain issues. Also: Volvo surpasses 25 certified EV dealers; six more sentenced in New Orleans staged-accident fraud scheme; ContainerPort Group expands; more.
Flat Top Transport s request for a four-month HOS waiver denied. Also: Six more sentenced in New Orleans staged-accident fraud scheme; Daimler recalls 70,000 trucks for brake corrosion, bunk issues; Uber Freight helping deploy electric trucks.
Flat Top Transport s request for a four-month HOS waiver denied. Also: Six more sentenced in New Orleans staged-accident fraud scheme; Daimler recalls 70,000 trucks for brake corrosion, bunk issues; Uber Freight helping deploy electric trucks.
Strasser
NEW ORLEANS – The first prison sentence has been handed out in the continuing investigation by the U.S. attorney into staged auto accidents designed to defraud trucking companies and insurers.
Peter Strasser, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced Jan. 22 that Mario Solomon, 48, of New Orleans has been sentenced to 21 months behind bars for his role as a “spotter” in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving attorneys, drivers, medical providers and car passengers. The ultimate goal was to ensnare big-rig companies into insurance fraud schemes, according to indictments filed by Strasser’s office.
Solomon was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As a spotter, he picked up fellow conspirator Damian Labeaud, the driver of a passenger car who collided with 18-wheelers during incidents in 2017. Typically, spotters also serve as accident “eyewitnesses�