Inside the $10.1M cargo theft ring

For more than three years, a cargo theft ring quietly redirected trucks carrying valuable cargo across the country to steal more than $10 million worth of cargo, using fake companies, stolen identities and online load boards. The scheme centered on a Lithuanian immigrant who operated under at least a dozen aliases and exploited loopholes in the freight brokerage system to lure legitimate truckers into unknowingly delivering goods to the wrong destinations.

The case of Ivars Zigmantas, who was sentenced to prison in Illinois, highlights how cargo thieves are using large-scale deception to carry out lucrative heists targeting motor carrier cargo. The impact is significant: The American Transportation Research Institute estimates that cargo theft costs the industry approximately $6.6 billion annually.

Court records detail a complex web of deception used to steal the goods from March 2020 to September 2023, relying on fake brokers and carriers to deliver the goods to interstate truckers.

Zygmantas pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges in December and was recently sentenced by a U.S. District Judge in federal court in Chicago. ellen bucklow. Zygmantas admitted to using 11 aliases, including Arturas Liasevicius, Darius Meskauskas and Arminas Rimkus, as well as a woman’s name, Cathy Stone.

They impersonated representatives of both real and fictitious carriers and brokers, obtaining Department of Transportation and motor carrier numbers from a network of fake companies, such as Best Global Express and several others that were used to further the scheme. Investigators said he used those fictitious carriers to secure shipments and establish a facade of legitimacy in transactions with shippers.

They also created fraudulent brokerage entities by using false credentials on load boards and other online marketplaces to bid on loads, offer contracts, and divert shipments from their intended destinations.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, “After fraudulently inducing the release of consignments of merchandise to individuals and entities, Zigmantas and others diverted the shipments from their intended destination and stole the goods.”

Prosecutors noted that Zigmantas and unnamed others intended to steal $14.6 million worth of cargo, but succeeded in taking more than $10.1 million in approximately 90 shipments by posing as employees of both legitimate and fictitious logistics companies.

The scheme relied on load boards and other online marketplaces, where Zigmantas and others created credentials for fake carriers and brokers to obtain cargo.

According to a sentencing memorandum, Zigmantas and others used these fake identities to “submit bids to transport loads, offer contracts to transport loads, and divert loads from their intended destinations to commit theft.”

In some instances, after drivers from actual transportation companies picked up the goods, Zigmantas posed as an employee of the brokerage company and directed the truck drivers to the warehouse of his choice to unload the goods. The goods were then reloaded onto another truck under his control and taken to storage facilities, mostly in Illinois. He also used aliases to rent warehouses for stolen goods.

The indictment said he was also involved in creating fake identity documents, including driver’s licenses and foreign passports. They were accused of using false identities to rent and operate equipment such as forklifts, trailers and trucks used to transport stolen merchandise.

(Debra Devine/Transportation Topics and Getty Images)

The fake identities were abandoned after about a month when legitimate companies realized that the load was being diverted. According to court records, the thieves created a new batch of identifications in a repeating cycle.

The stolen goods consisted primarily of liquor and copper, including 14 shipments of copper rods from El Paso, Texas. One victim alone lost $1.85 million in stolen copper loads, while one shipment was valued at $134,000.

As part of the criminal scheme, Zigmantas was also charged with bank fraud related to payments involving legitimate carriers and others. According to court records, she allegedly received checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds, fraudulently deposited them into accounts at a bank to increase the balances, then withdrew the funds and “kept the proceeds of this scheme for herself.”

sentencing process

Before sentencing Zygmantas, 41, to five years in prison on May 6, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Illinois heard from family members, friends and acquaintances. A letter submitted by the prison ministry said Zigmantas was attending Bible classes while incarcerated in a cargo theft case. Another one of the sheriff’s inmate program coordinators said Zigmanta had completed a machining course, which is aimed at helping inmates find employment after release. His mother wrote that his family won the green card lottery in 2003 and moved to the United States “because life in Lithuania was economically difficult and wages were low.”

However, the US Attorney Andrew Boutros Demanded a harsher sentence of 76 months in prison and one year of supervised release.

Prosecutors described the defendant’s behavior as “particularly egregious given that he started, managed, and maintained a legitimate construction business that had been operating since 2012, after his arrest. As long as the defendant engaged in these large-scale fraud schemes, he had the ability to make different choices, but he refused to do so, resulting in serious criminal conduct and substantial harm to his victims.”

Additionally, Zigmantas has a prior criminal history due to a 2014 felony conviction for issuing a check with intent to defraud.

“This cargo theft scheme represents a significant escalation of the defendant’s prior criminal conduct,” Boutros said. “…both the variety of defendant’s fraudulent activity and the years-long duration of the cargo theft scheme demonstrate the need for a significant sentence of imprisonment specifically aimed at deterring defendant from further criminal activity, protecting the public, and promoting respect for the law.”

compensation ordered

Zigmantas was ordered to pay a total of $10.3 million in compensation to 24 companies, including two banks – Bank of America in California ($86,623) and Byline Bank in Illinois ($25,603). Beverage companies set to repay include Diageo ($1.37 million), Bacardi ($600,828), Breakthrough Beverage ($300,000), Jack Daniel’s ($250,000), Red Bull ($146,214) and Carolina Beverage Group ($70,000).

Another victim company listed for restitution was JO Alvarez of Laredo, Texas, which is owed $300,000 and provides brokerage, distribution, freight forwarding, warehousing and logistics services.

The case was prosecuted as part of the Justice Department’s Trade Fraud Task Force, which has identified Chicago as a leading jurisdiction for cases involving supply chain and trade-related fraud.

“Chicago is one of the largest and most important inland ports in the United States, allowing for wide venue opportunities for criminal and civil trade fraud cases,” Boutros said at the time. “Trade compliance is a major concern for the economic security of not only our region, but our entire country.”

He said the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office will remain committed to prosecuting fraudulent schemes that “undermine honest American competitors.”

Cases like Zigmantas’s highlight a growing concern for the freight industry as more transactions move online. With load boards, digital brokerage and remote dispatching now standard, carriers and shippers face increasing pressure to verify that paperwork is legitimate.

By the time the companies realize that fraud has occurred and a lot of stuff has been moved around, the identities used to book them have already been removed and replaced. Investigators say the cycle could be repeated rapidly, testing how well the freight industry can keep up with increasingly sophisticated cargo theft schemes.