Investigations
Passenger Bus Company Operator Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charges
On June 21, 2018, Wei Ming He, former president and/or shareholder of multiple commercial passenger bus companies, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He admitted to conspiring to make materially false statements on commercial carrier forms regulated by FMCSA. He was indicted in March 2016, along with 13 other individuals, for his role in a multi-State scheme to fraudulently operate commercial passenger bus companies.
The indictment alleged that the defendants formed, controlled, managed, and operated numerous bus companies and routinely falsified FMCSA Motor Carrier Identification Reports and applications for FMCSA operating authority. The defendants concealed who operated the companies and that the buses they operated were unsafe. Wei Ming He admitted that he and others falsified documents that enabled their companies to obtain operating authority, licenses, stickers, insurance, and other authority indicating that their buses met Federal and State safety standards.
The indictment further alleged that the defendants falsified records related to bus safety, maintenance, and driver qualifications to impede FMCSA inspections and reviews. Specifically, they submitted false documents indicating that the companies had driver safety and training programs, and false records related to accident registers, hours of service, vehicle maintenance, drug and alcohol testing programs, and their previous company affiliations and associations.
DOT-OIG is working on this investigation with Homeland Security Investigations and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. FMCSA provided substantial assistance.