Two owners of a Utah trucking group were recently convicted for their roles in an elaborate, 10-year pay-to-play fraud scheme that siphoned more than $108 million from FedEx Ground.
On Feb. 2, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah convicted Yevgeny Felix Tuchinsky, 63, and Konstantin Mikhaylovich Tomlin, 54, both of Salt Lake County, Utah, of wire fraud and honest services fraud conspiracy. The two owned and operated several trucking companies consolidated under Salt Lake Trucking Group (SLTG), according to a statement released by the U.S. attorney’s office.
“Instead of competing fairly against other CSPs [contract service providers] for FedEx business, SLTG bribed FedEx employees to obtain more miles and more money from FedEx,” according to the statement.
The investigation revealed that Tuchinsky and Tomlin on behalf of SLTG paid nearly $320,000 in bribes to FXG employees who manipulated FXG’s process for awarding new runs. During the approximately 10-year conspiracy from 2009-2019, SLTG received about $108 million in FXG revenue.
“Before they delivered packages, these men and their teammates delivered cash bribes,” said Stephen Dent, assistant United States attorney, in a statement. “Before their trucks pulled away from the hub to go on a run, they lied and they bribed to even get that run.”
Federal prosecutors alleged that Tuchinsky personally gained $7 million and Tomlin gained over $4 million from the scheme.
Tuchninsky and Tomlin are scheduled to be sentenced on May 20.
In April 2021, Hubert Ivan Ugarte, 52, of Draper, Utah, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in the same FedEx Ground pay-to-play scheme in exchange for lucrative contracts, and to defrauding the PPP loan program.
FXG is a subsidiary of Memphis, Tennessee-based shipping and logistics giant FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX).
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