Investigations
Tijuana Individual Sentenced for Double-Broker Scheme
On February 24, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California sentenced Alexis Castillo-Padilla of Tijuana, Mexico to 30 months of incarceration, 36 months of supervised release, $239,904 in restitution, and a $400 special assessment. On October 6, 2022, Castillo pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud. The investigation revealed that from around 2015 until October 2017, Castillo led a "double-broker" scheme, in which he stole the identity of an interstate carrier and agreed to make deliveries using the company's stolen identity. Rather than delivering the loads, Castillo posed as a shipper and re brokered the same loads to other carriers who delivered the freight. Castillo collected the payments for the completed deliveries but did not pay the carriers who actually delivered the loads.