Investigations

On August 17, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts sentenced Estevao Semedo, owner of a local driving school, to 6 months in prison, 1 year of supervised release, with the first 6 months to be served under home confinement, forfeiture of $17,000, and a $100 special assessment.

 

The investigation revealed that Semedo conspired to defraud the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) into issuing driver's licenses to applicants who did not pass the road test. Specifically, Semedo paid a road test examiner at the Brockton RMV service center to misrepresent to RMV that certain driver's license applicants had passed their road test when they had not passed or had not taken the test. As a result of the fraud, RMV mailed driver's licenses to unqualified applicants. In total, Semedo paid the road test examiner $17,000 in bribes in exchange for fraudulent passing road test scores. On August 21, in the same investigation, Neta Centio pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud.

 

According to the charging document, Centio used CashApp to pay a road test examiner at the Brockton RMV service center to misrepresent to the RMV that certain driver's license applicants had passed their road test when, in fact, they had not shown up to take the test. As a result of the fraud, RMV mailed driver's licenses to unqualified applicants. After Centio's fraud was discovered, Centio told the road test examiner not to mention the CashApp payments.

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations.