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Pennsylvania Bus Company Operator Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charges

On February 13, 2019, Pau Hua Yu, former president and/or shareholder of multiple commercial passenger bus companies, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She admitted to conspiring to make materially false statements on commercial carrier forms regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Yu and 13 others were indicted in March 2016 for their roles in a multi-State scheme to fraudulently operate commercial passenger bus companies.
 
The indictment alleged that the defendants—who formed, controlled, managed, and operated numerous bus companies—routinely falsified FMCSA Motor Carrier Identification Reports and applications for operating authority. They concealed both the identities of the people who operated the companies and that the buses were unsafe. Yu admitted that she and others falsified documents so their companies could 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 FMCSA-regulated records related to bus safety, maintenance, and driver qualifications to impede the Agency’s inspections and reviews. Specifically, they submitted false documents indicating that the fraudulent companies had driver safety and training programs in place, when they did not, as well as false records regarding accident registers, hours of service, vehicle maintenance, drug and alcohol testing programs, and their previous company affiliations and associations.
 
DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with Homeland Security Investigations and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. FMCSA provided substantial assistance.