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Former trucking company owner faces fraud charges in carrier scheme

Rochester, New York, man indicted

Tony “Anatoliy” Kirik, 39, of Rochester, New York, indicted in an alleged reincarnated carrier scheme. Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

A former trucking company owner was recently indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in an alleged conspiracy to defraud the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration about the company he controlled and affiliated entities.

Tony “Anatoliy” Kirik, 39, of Rochester, New York, was charged with eight counts, including conspiracy, false statements, falsification of records, false documents, concealment of material facts and aggravated identity theft, on April 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

The indictment alleges that Kirik sought to hide the affiliation between Orange Transportation Services Inc. (OTS), headquartered in Rochester, and Dallas Logistics Inc. (DLI). FMCSA investigators claim DLI was a reincarnated carrier of OTS.

The indictment alleges that after OTS received a conditional safety rating from the FMCSA, Kirik established a new company, DLI, in October 2012, to avoid paying higher insurance premiums, listing its principal address as being in Texas. 


Kirik allegedly submitted false and fraudulent forms for the new company, stating that DLI had not had a prior relationship with any other FMCSA-regulated entity within the past three years.

Court documents claim Kirik had an employee lie to an FMCSA official during a new entrant safety audit in March 2014, in an attempt to deceive the agency representative “into believing that Dallas Logistics was an independent trucking business in Texas and was not affiliated with Orange Transportation Services or any other FMCSA-regulated entity.”

During a compliance review in April 2016, FMCSA officials found that DLI was not headquartered in Dallas and that Kirik controlled both companies, which were based in New York.

According to the court filings, Kirik had an employee prepare and sign a letter on DLI letterhead, stating that J.Z., whose full name was not mentioned in the indictment, was listed as the president “or figurehead” of the motor carrier, which had planned to relocate to Texas. However, both of his parents became seriously ill, which caused the company to remain in New York, the letter stated.


In an interview with special agents in December 2017, J.Z., who formerly worked for OTS, claims he was approached by Kirik about creating a new motor carrier entity, DLI, and that J.Z. would be listed as the owner and president. 

J.Z. claims he agreed to the arrangement because if OTS went out of business, he would be unemployed, court documents allege. However, he claims the letter about his parents’ health was produced without his knowledge.

Kirik is also listed as the contact for Main Street Logistics, also headquartered in Rochester. According to the FMCSA SAFER website, Main Street has 18 drivers and the same number of power units.

Kirik has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Voluntary discovery is set to be completed by May 21 at a pretrial conference. All pretrial motions are due by Sept. 24.

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Click for more articles by Clarissa Hawes

6 Comments

  1. Karen R Rymer

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  2. JD

    What he did was wrong , no doubt. But trucker’s rates haven’t had a significant raise since the late ’80’s early ’90’s . In those days we had a middle class living . You try to make a living now ! FMCSA and California Air Resources Board, CARB has the best of intentions but they don’t have to pay the bill ,we, truckers do , make it unbelievably difficult. In the old days a driver could buy a new truck then rebuild it a million times over but now we have to buy a new truck every couple year ,new truck electronics suck ,so we can’t get from under truck payments. I know for a fact trucking insurance is based on profit and loss of prior year , thats why rates NEVER stay the same but increase no matter how good you’ve been . No one can control what FMCSA does , they put new regulations on drivers and we have no recourse . They need to be investigated . I’ve said it before if truckers could get together and not turn a wheel for one week everyone would understand ” Without Truckers America Stops !” And don’t get me started about commercial cops and local municipalities seeing truckers as revenue.

  3. JohnScott

    As a o/o leased on with a small Carrier I’ve had a feeling the rate Confirmations from them on some of the loads I pull have been altered .I’ve asked a few brokers what the rate is they either don’t know are won’t say My question is us there a way I can check to make sure I’m not being scammed thanks

    1. Witt

      It sounds like you company is just taking the broker confirmation and forwarding them on you, with adjustments, most likely, I watch my Dad get screwed buy big owner operator outfits his entire life, why I swore I would never lease to somebody. There is really no way to get straight answer out your company or the Broker. Or anybody for that matter. it is legal for them to do that by the way. Some times rate comps get altered during the negotiation process too, has nothing to do with you, so be careful They may have actually got you more money! When I was brokering I had small carrier use my rate comps., and I had drivers question the rate, I always ask them to fax me their copy, the rate was the the same every time, some small carriers do this as a gesture of faith, not trying to screw you. As a leaser it boils down to are you making what you should be, are you making enough, if not, plan on going some where else. Your services have value ! Make no mistake! This freight pay much better than what most of them tell you, overall there is about 40% of the rate is gone before it gets to the little guy. having said that it real hard ,as one driver with one truck to go on a crusade and change things ( speaking from much experience here) . I have found that most actors in the truck industry are corrupt, and the rest will not rock the boat. There are good people out their, but you will have hunt them up. They do not advertise, and they usually have low turn over.
      I have found that the ones who brag the most, make the most outrageous claims are worst. Talk to other leasers, see how long they have been there, do a Ansonia credit check on their broker and carrier MC number, see how they pay their bills, cost you 20-60 $ Do not trust Internet Truckstop credit check! There is a huge disconnect, between the illusion created by trucking media and what really goes on. My guess is that if you are looking at white out blotches on your load comps, you are not happy with what you are getting in revenue. Time to move on. Good Luck

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Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 16 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to [email protected].