Fraudulent relationships are not something new between carriers and shippers. Take the 2008 case of S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. vs. Morris for instance.
The manufacturer of products such as Ziploc and Pledge, filed a suit two years ago against their former director of transportation, Milton Morris, and several carriers including Transport Corporation of America Inc., Stevens Transport Inc., and Far Side Trucking Inc., in a bribe that took place when Morris was employed there, costing the company tens of millions of dollars.
According to the suit, Morris made deals in which he was able to get his friend hired by one of the carriers, along with receiving gifts, jewelry, trips, and over a million dollars, in return for giving the carriers business in which S.C. Johnson paid for at extremely high rates.
John Burch, who used to work as a broker for Wachovia Securities, admitted that he laundered close to $370,000 in several bank accounts for Morris (http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_1f340d46-8994-5a74-9894-4b4473069eea.html).
Katherine Scheller, who Morris planned to take over in the scheme when he left, was fired after Morris. She is said to have made out with at least $195,000 from the schemes.
The verdict declared S.C. Johnson $147 million, which was $45.1 million more than what they asked for (http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_1841c1e7-257b-596c-bc1c-58a466713303.html).
Thomas Buske of Buske Lines Inc., a family owned business who was said to have hired Morris’ son during the deal, had no choice but to turn his company over to S.C. Johnson in December of 2009 to pay off the suit (http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2010/02/15/story3.html).
Unfortunately, fraudulent relationships are still found today, such as in the recent Lasher Brother Trucking Company case.
Case in point, make sure when choosing a carrier, you look for someone with an outstanding record that you can trust, someone like Road Scholar Transport.
