Freight payment vendor Trendset rocked by embezzlement case

   The freight payment and audit services provider Trendset has alerted its clients to an internal fraud and embezzlement issue which could affect payments the provider was supposed to make on behalf of its shipper customers to their transportation carriers. 
   Trendset Chief Executive Officer Gary Selvaggio said in a letter to customers last week, which was obtained by American Shipper, that a “trusted employee” engaged in a fraud and embezzled funds from the company’s bank accounts, accounts from which Trendset pays its customers’ freight invoices.
   “The fraud was discovered through a review of suspect transactions first noted by our bank,” Selvaggio wrote. “Federal authorities, including the FBI, were alerted and a forensic review was conducted. The employee was indicted and plead guilty to certain charges.”
   Selvaggio noted while the amount withdrawn from the company’s accounts “represents a tiny percentage of the volume of transactions which we process annually on behalf of our customers… the volume of transactions we handle is large. Consequently, the total amount of the deficiency is significant and is a sum larger than the company can pay from its current funds.”
   Selvaggio was not immediately available for comment when contacted Tuesday evening by American Shipper.
   According to its Website, Trendset manages $10 billion worth in payments. It’s unknown what percentage of that has been affected by the fraud and embezzlement case…