The Chameleon Carrier Accountability Crisis

Chameleon carriers, or “reincarnated” carriers, are trucking companies that shut down after racking up safety violations or facing regulatory action, then resurface under a new name with a new DOT number. According to data used by the Government Accountability Office, chameleon carriers are three times more likely to be involved in serious crashes than legitimate operators. Some estimates suggest they’re five to nine times more likely to cause severe accidents.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the Jarheads crash revealed that Westfield Transport wasn’t an isolated operation, it was part of an extensive network of connected carriers. The NTSB documented at least a dozen affiliated companies sharing vehicles, drivers, email addresses, and principals with Westfield, including East Transport LLC, East2West Transport, 3 Brothers Transport, Vlad Transport, DAKS Express, and others.

This is the chameleon carrier playbook: establish multiple DOT numbers, shuffle drivers and equipment between them, and when one gets too hot, shut it down and keep operating through the others.

What Westfield Transport Did Wrong

The NTSB’s final report painted a damning picture. Out of 150 driving logs reviewed, 28 had been falsified. The company instructed drivers to disconnect smartphones from electronic logging devices to avoid creating accurate records of driving time. Drivers were told to use paper logs, which could be easily manipulated, when ELD devices malfunctioned.

Most critically, Dunyadar Gasanov hired Zhukovskyy despite knowing him for years and being fully aware of his history of drunk driving and substance abuse. On the morning of the crash, Zhukovskyy admitted to consuming heroin and cocaine. Federal prosecutors later revealed that Gasanov had lied to investigators, claiming he’d only met Zhukovskyy the day he hired him.

Perhaps most telling: NTSB discovered that Westfield Transport attempted to add Zhukovskyy to its insurance policy one hour after the crash, suggesting he may not have been properly covered when he killed seven people.

The Consequences, Or Lack Thereof

In August 2024, Dunyadar Gasanov pleaded guilty to three counts of making false statements to federal investigators. In November 2024, he was sentenced to two months in prison followed by one year of supervised release. The government had recommended one year. The judge disagreed.

Two months. For falsifying safety records, lying about a crash that killed seven people, and knowingly hiring an unqualified driver with a documented history of substance abuse.

As for Zhukovskyy himself: after a jury acquitted him of all 15 charges in August 2022, including seven counts of negligent homicide and seven counts of manslaughter, ICE took him into custody. An immigration judge ordered his deportation to Ukraine in February 2023, but the ongoing war complicated removal. He was released from ICE custody in April 2023 under an Order of Supervision and remains in the United States under temporary protective status.

In May 2024, despite his criminal acquittal, an administrative judge upheld the finding that Zhukovskyy was responsible for the crash and extended his license suspension. That suspension runs through 2026. He’s already petitioned once to get his license back and lost. Nothing is stopping him from trying again.

A Pattern 

Westfield Transport isn’t an anomaly. The carrier accountability crisis runs through case after case where drivers face consequences but the companies that enabled them walk away.

In January 2023, Danny Glen Tiner was driving for Mr. Bult’s Inc. when he crashed into stopped traffic on I-10 in Arizona, killing five people. He was speeding through a construction zone while watching TikTok videos. Tiner got 22.5 years in prison. Mr. Bult’s Inc.? Operating without incident.

In December 2022, a Triton Logistics driver rear-ended a party bus near Williamsburg, Virginia, killing three people. The NTSB found that the company had created fictitious driver accounts in its ELD systems to allow drivers to exceed federal driving hour limits. When drivers hit their 11-hour limit, they’d call Triton’s hours-of-service department in Lithuania, log out, and have a “co-driver” log in so they could keep driving. The so-called co-driver in the fatal crash had been terminated eight days earlier and told investigators he’d never even met the driver involved. FMCSA gave Triton a conditional safety rating. No criminal charges for the executives who built the system.

Even the rare cases of carrier accountability show how weak enforcement actually is. Beam Brothers Trucking, a Mount Crawford, Virginia company that hauled mail for the U.S. Postal Service, systematically violated hours-of-service regulations for 18 years. Drivers were so fatigued that they were taking bath salts to stay awake. The four top executives pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Their sentence? The president and vice president got six months of home confinement. The COO and CFO got three months. The company paid $3 million in fines and restitution. Nobody went to prison.

Why This Matters

Motor carriers have a moral and ethical obligation to the people they share the road with. When they hire unqualified drivers, falsify safety records, tamper with ELD systems, or skip drug testing, they’re making a calculated bet that the consequences of getting caught won’t outweigh the cost savings of cutting corners.

Right now, that bet pays off more often than not. NTSB recommendations pile up after fatal crashes. FMCSA issues violations and fines. Conditional safety ratings get handed out. But the executives who build cultures of non-compliance rarely face meaningful criminal exposure.

The drivers go to prison. The companies keep rolling.

Meanwhile, Dartanyan Gasanov, the other Westfield Transport owner, has rejected a no-time plea agreement and is taking his case to trial. He apparently believes he can beat the charges, just like Zhukovskyy did.

Given the track record of carrier accountability in this country, can you blame him for thinking he might?

Seven Marine veterans and their loved ones died on Route 2 in Randolph because every system designed to prevent exactly this kind of tragedy failed them. Massachusetts didn’t process Connecticut’s notification about Zhukovskyy’s license suspension. Westfield Transport hired him anyway. The ELD regulations couldn’t prevent tampering. And when it was all said and done, the owner who enabled it got 60 days.

Until that equation changes, until carrier executives face real consequences for the cultures they create, we’ll keep seeing the same headlines with different names.