Investigations

On February 16, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah sentenced North Carolina resident Leonid Isaakovich Teyf to 2 years of incarceration, 1 year of supervised release, $1,378,702 in restitution, and a $100 special assessment. Teyf was charged in July 2022 with one count of misprision of wire fraud conspiracy felony. Teyf and co-conspirators were owners and/or employees of Salt Lake Trucking Group (SLTG Ground). SLTG Ground, comprised of several trucking companies, contracted to carry packages for FedEx Ground (FXG).

 

Teyf and co-conspirators worked the scheme with FXG line-haul manager Ryan Mower—the company’s highest-ranking Utah employee from about 2008 to October 2019. Using Mower's position at FXG, Teyf and the co-conspirators manipulated the company’s process for awarding new runs. Mower also helped the co-conspirators grow their business larger than FXG allowed for contractors by submitting false information to FXG. The co-conspirators falsified mileage reports, and Mower would occasionally inflate the number of weekly miles driven by one or more of the co-conspirators' companies. During the approximate 10 years of the conspiracy, SLTG Ground received about $150 million from FXG, and the co-conspirators allegedly paid approximately $300,000 in bribes to Mower.

 

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.