Inside a $10.1M cargo theft ring

(Transport Topics with AI assistance)

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

The case of Aivaras Zigmantas, who was sentenced to prison in Illinois, highlights how cargo thieves are using deception at scale to pull off lucrative heists targeting motor carrier freight. The impact is significant: The American Transportation Research Institute estimates cargo theft costs the industry about $6.6 billion annually.

Court records detail the intricate web of deception used to steal freight from March 2020 to September 2023, relying on fake brokers and carriers to trick interstate truck drivers into delivering goods.

Zigmantas pleaded guilty in December to a federal wire fraud charge and was recently sentenced in federal court in Chicago by U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo. Zigmantas admitted to using 11 aliases, including Arturas Liaskevicius, Darius Meskauskas and Arminas Rimkus, as well as a woman’s name, Kathy Stone.

He masqueraded as a representative of both real and fictitious carriers and brokers, obtaining Department of Transportation and motor carrier numbers tied to a network of sham companies, such as Best Global Express and several others used to advance the scheme. Investigators said he used those fictitious carriers to secure shipments and establish a veneer of legitimacy in transactions with shippers.

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

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

Prosecutors noted Zigmantas and unnamed others intended to steal $14.6 million in cargo but succeeded in taking more than $10.1 million in some 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.

Zigmantas and others used these falsified identities “to submit bids to transport loads, offer contracts to transport loads and divert loads from their intended destinations to steal them,” according to a sentencing memorandum.

In some instances, after drivers for real transportation companies picked up a load, Zigmantas posed as a brokerage company employee and diverted the truckers to a warehouse of his choosing to offload the cargo. The goods then were reloaded onto a second truck under his control and taken to storage facilities, mostly in Illinois. He also used aliases to rent warehouses for the stolen freight.

An indictment noted he also was involved in creating fraudulent identity documents, including driver’s licenses and foreign passports. He was accused of using false identities to rent and operate equipment such as forklifts, trailers and trucks used to move stolen cargo.

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(Debra Devine/Transport Topics and Getty Images)

The falsified identities were abandoned after about a month when legitimate companies became aware that loads were being diverted. The thieves then created a new batch of identities in a repetitive cycle, according to court records.

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

As part of the criminal scheme, Zigmantas also was accused of bank fraud related to payments involving legitimate carriers and others. He allegedly obtained checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds, deposited them into accounts at one bank to fraudulently inflate balances, then withdrew funds and “kept the proceeds of this scheme,” according to court records.

Sentencing Process

Before sentencing 41-year-old Zigmantas to five years in prison on May 6, the judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Illinois heard from family members, friends and acquaintances. One letter submitted from a jail ministry said Zigmantas had been attending Bible classes during his incarceration in the cargo theft case. Another from a sheriff’s inmate program coordinator described Zigmantas completing a machining course intended to help inmates find employment upon release. His mother wrote that their family won a green card lottery in 2003 and moved to the United States “because life in Lithuania was financially difficult and salaries were low.”

However, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros sought a tougher sentence of 76 months in prison and one year of supervised release.

Prosecutors called the defendant’s behavior “particularly aggravating because he reports having started, managed and maintained a lawful construction business which operated from 2012 through his arrest. Throughout the time that defendant engaged in these large-scale fraud schemes, he had the ability to make different choices, but refused to do so, resulting in increasingly serious criminal conduct and substantial losses to his victims.”

Furthermore, Zigmantas had a prior criminal history due to a 2014 felony conviction for issuing a check with the intent to defraud.

“This cargo theft scheme represented a significant escalation from defendant’s prior criminal conduct,” Boutros noted. “…the variety of the defendant’s fraudulent activity and the yearslong duration of the cargo theft scheme both speak to the need for a significant sentence of imprisonment, with the goals of specifically deterring defendant from further criminal activity, protecting the public, and promoting respect for the law.”

Restitution Ordered

Zigmantas was ordered to pay restitution totaling $10.3 million to 24 companies, including two banks — Bank of America in California ($86,623) and Byline Bank in Illinois ($25,603). Beverage companies slated for repayment include Diageo ($1.37 million), Bacardi ($600,828), Breakthru 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 J.O. 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 Department of Justice’s Trade Fraud Task Force, which has identified Chicago as a key jurisdiction for cases involving supply chain and trade-related fraud.

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Boutros

“Chicago is one of the largest and most significant inland ports in the United States, allowing for expansive venue opportunities for criminal and civil trade fraud matters,” Boutros said at the time. “Trade compliance is a key concern for not only our region’s economic security, but also that of our entire nation’s.”

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

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

By the time companies realize fraud has occurred and loads have been diverted, the identities used to book them often have already been discarded and replaced. Investigators say the cycle can be repeated quickly, testing how well the freight industry can keep pace with increasingly sophisticated cargo theft schemes.