Trucking company owner pleads guilty to wire fraud related to illegally consolidating loads, overbilling

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Columbus interstate cargo-transport trucking company owner pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to wire fraud. He illegally overbilled shippers, consolidated shipments, and caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods shipped to destinations in Ohio like Bath and Body Works and Amazon warehouses.

Gurtej Singh, 48, admitted to covertly opening sealed truck trailers and removing goods. Singh and others illegally consolidated loads to save on delivery costs and failed to deliver many goods to their final destinations.

According to court documents, from April 2018 until December 2019, Singh was employed by Cargo Solutions Express as the manager of its warehouse on Fisher Road in Columbus. Singh later created his own transport company, owning and managing Bhullar Transport Group LLC from January 2020 until May 2022. Singh maintained a warehouse for his company on Interchange Road in Columbus.

In January 2019, Singh filed an application with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on behalf of Bhullar and lied by stating that he did not have certain relationships with other FMCSA-regulated entities. In reality, Singh was affiliated with Cargo Solutions Express and two other trucking companies, Roadhawk Transportation and Show Time Carrier.

The trucking companies provided interstate trucking transportation for manufacturers and retailers. The shippers often paid a premium to reserve the entire truck for cargo that they did not want mixed with others’ cargo. To ensure that loads were not tampered with in transit, the shippers often added serialized plastic seals to the trailer locking mechanism and noted the serial number on the shipping documents. Receivers of the goods could then compare a trailer seal to the paperwork to ensure that the trailer had not been opened.

Singh and others charged the premium rate but opened trailers and consolidated cargo to generate higher profits. They altered the seal serial numbers and paperwork, among other tactics to hide the scheme from shippers and receivers.

For example, in December 2018, Cargo Solutions Express picked up a load in Santa Clarita, California, to be delivered to Reynoldsburg, Ohio, containing products for Bath and Body Works. The load was delivered with an intact seal, indicating that the load had not been opened in transit, but 10 pallets of products worth nearly $230,000 were missing.

When law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cargo Solutions Express warehouse in Columbus, they discovered the 10 missing pallets of Bath and Body Works lotions, along with several other pallets of goods reported stolen from multiple shipments bound for an Amazon warehouse in Groveport, Ohio.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Andrea M. Kropf, Special Agent-In-Charge, U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, Midwestern Region; and Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant announced the guilty plea entered on Feb. 6 before U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison. Assistant United States Attorney David J. Twombly is representing the United States in this case.

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