A carrier executive has admitted to accusations that he improperly diverted $2.7 million that should have gone to truck drivers, but instead was used to line his own pockets. The former executive now faces up to 20 years in prison for his crimes.
Alexei Rivero was the vice president of Florida Carrier & Brokerage Service Inc. from March 2011 through September 2013. Florida Carrier was primarily a mail hauler contracted with USPS. As part of the contracts Rivero signed with the postal service, he agreed to pay Florida Carrier drivers as employees and provide them with the benefits that employees would be entitled to including health insurance costs, vacation and holiday pay, etc.
Instead, Rivero allegedly deliberately misclassified drivers as independent contractors, denying them fair pay and benefits. Over the course of Rivero’s tenure, USPS paid Florida Carrier approximately $1.5 million that was supposed to go toward employee benefits and approximately $1.2 million that should have gone toward employee payroll taxes. As such, drivers missed out on $2.7 million over just two and a half years.
Rivero pled guilty to two counts of Wire Fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 23rd. Because of his guilty plea, Rivero will likely serve far less than the 20-year sentence he could otherwise face.
Source: freightwaves, yahoo, workcompcentral
Bernard Dembowski says
He should be doing the full 20 yrs!!!
R Diaz says
No jail time!
Make him drive for ten years with no benefits and low wages.
Richard Tibbetts says
What company was this?
Jacques says
Gotcha you thief… That’s the problem with trucking industry… Too many thieves as owner..
Billy Jones says
Take everything from him. Home and all.
Albert Douglas says
He should be taken out back and shot like the lowlife dog that he is
Jack says
He should get only 6 months and they should confiscate all properties and cars he has and leave his account with 5K only….leaving him destitute and forbidden to ever work for any type of transportation company
Eska says
Except being a truck driver
Tom says
Which WOULD leave him destitute.
Charles says
It’s enough to ponder how some people end up sleeping under bridges…..
Paul says
The drivers of this gentleman should have known that things weren’t right from the get go. What took so long for someone to catch on?
CW says
You call him a gentleman? He’s a freaking thief. He stole from drivers. Call it for it is, a liar and thief.
Nemo says
It says he hired them as independent contractors. Which means he paid them without withholding taxes or SS. So he didn’t really steal from the drivers.
Brian says
Hmmm crazy but true
Charlie Krebs says
You are a moron nemo. To accomplish this he had to falsify books and records, not to mention payroll. The drivers should have known yes from the start but this is also now become a irs tax issue for both him and the drivers. The drivers are going to be on the hook for unpaid taxes.
Roni says
Him or the government…both are thieves.
Albert Ferguson says
Cowed unemployed drivers ( maybe latinos?) don’t ask alot of questions when getting a job, like whether they should be employees or contractors (very common for tractor owners) when hauling for the mails.
Jerome Miller says
How about , if you working for a company, and you are not a OTR driver, and you just run Local, though that anything over 40 hrs the driver should get paid overtime, and also holiday pay suppose to be 8hr but they only pay the drivers 4hrs, is there any law for that, this is happening in Florida?
Stiv Johanson says
If he plead guilty it is not longer alleged. He admitted doing it. Why not write it up that way.
Debra Lane says
I think I’ve fallen victim to the same type of scrutiny here in Georgia. Can someone give me a little bit more info on how he pulled it off. I thought I was a “company” driver for this guy and he’s saying he hired me as an independent driver. Please help!!
Chuckie says
Amazing and trucker report banned me from trying to expose the rest of the fuel scam
Andrew says
All 20 years is justified. Need to send a strong message to the next thief
Joey says
Imagine how many other people are doing the same thing. A certain trucking company owner once told me “can’t pay them too well or they don’t need to work all the time”…………And it’s not just from drivers it’s from 0/0 they steal from too…..
Freebird says
This is so true. They give the drivers just enough to live on, and keep them working.
Nemo says
If you are willing to work for nothing, why should they pay you more? If you were going to hire someone to polish your tanks and he said he would do it for $5 a tank and you agree, are you the crook?
Buddy says
And does this really surprise anyone ? They are all crooks!
Charles Bevell says
A safe trucker who is away from home for 300+ days a year should make six figures, AND have benefits. Why America does not see this is beyond me. Btw, I drive a transit bus for a major city, if that’s important.- Charles
ez says
your right Charles, to many truck drivers just want to yell, and scream.
they do not want to put the effort into unionizing, or they rant the party line about how unions screw them.
Albert Ferguson says
The more they screw drivers, the fewer want to drive, the less available drivers, THE MORE COMPANIES CHARGE PER LOAD! Simple. Thats why drivers get paid the way they do!
sonny Pruitt says
Why waste people’s time with this garbage? He’ll get a slap on the wrist like all the others and live happily ever after with his bank account in tact.
D says
They all stealing from us. There is isnt a company out here that is for its drivers
Ivormcnally says
I can tolerate a lot of things but a thief no lock the son of a b**** up
Will says
Welcome to the life of a trucker.allways been this way.for the last 20 yrs
Dan says
20 yrs? you must be fairly new or worked for one of the very few people who did treat drivers well over 20 yrs ago and there wasn’t many I promise you that..
Cherokee says
He’ll get away with it. People that screw drivers always seem to.
Rawdog says
You guys saying they are all like that are wrong, the company I work for now is VERY fair to the drivers, we make between 75-100k a year home every weekend and good safe equipment, I earn a very fair check, I’m respected and they are completely honest with me ! There are jobs like mine out there but to be fair they are few and far between! Don’t settle for working for someone who doesn’t treat you right and eventually you’ll find someone who does