Investigations

On June 22, 2021,Ievgen Kariaka pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to participating in a $1.5 million–$3.5 million racketeering conspiracy related to a moving company enterprise. Members of the enterprise, including Kariaka, engaged in a scheme to defraud more than 1,800 individuals using moving companies located throughout the United States.

 

Beginning in or about 2016, Kariaka participated in a scheme to defraud, extort, and steal from customers who hired certain moving companies to move their household goods. Specifically, as manager of the Ohio warehouse, Kariaka was aware that customers were being fraudulently charged for more cubic footage of household goods than was actually moved. The warehouse manager furthered the scheme by sending emails to co-conspirators containing both the inflated and actual costs of the customers’ goods.

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.