Every broker and carrier who has applied for an operating authority, or added additional authorities, and completed the initial Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Registration, has received a variation of the following warning, which is included on the OP-1 authority application:
I [your Name Here] certify under penalty of perjury that all information provided on this form, or relating to the application, is true and accurate. I certify I am authorized and qualified to file this application. I am aware that willful misstatements and omissions are federal criminal violations punishable by up to five years imprisonment or fines of up to $10,000 per offense under 18 USC 1001. These misstatements can also be punished as perjury, under 18 USC1621, with fines of up to $2,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
The FMCSA’s MCS 150 form, which carriers must file every two years, contains similar language but does not mention penalties explicitly. These warnings of perjury penalties failed to deter a crime wave described by FMCSA as a freight fraud among the 800,000 or more FMCSA-registered entities. This includes both carriers and brokers. Could it be that FMCSA has not referred anyone to the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General because of perjury?
A bill recently introduced in the House will remove legal hurdles to allow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to impose civil penalties of $10,000 on registered entities who violate its commercial regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration can then enforce the laws that are already on the books, and penalize bad acts. If the proposed legislation becomes law, FMCSA would be able to more easily assess fines for acts such as not disclosing connections with other carriers or brokers.
Its own forms promise to seek the same amount of fines for misstatements and omissions, and ask the applicant to sign to confirm they are aware of this.
[Related: Does FMCSA’s registration-overhaul push have a sole-proprietor problem?]
We asked FMCSA about the perjury cases it has brought, or if they are just a threat. FMCSA is aware of double brokers that have failed to disclose their affiliations with other carriers or brokers, and who have used incorrect principal places of business addresses. One such double broker was , whose scam led FMCSA to force Uber Freight to reveal the rate a shipper had paid to move a shipment.
Cicely Waters, Director of the FMCSA Office of Communications, spoke out about perjury.
In cases of criminal violations, such as false statements or intentional misrepresentations, the FMCSA coordinates with Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. FMCSA cannot provide information on possible criminal investigations. FMCSA can revoke or cancel registrations through administrative proceedings when there is enough evidence that a company provided false or misleading information in a registration application.
Waters responded that FMCSA had referred cases involving false information provided on registration forms to DOT OIG.
Perjury as it is mentioned on your forms — are there any referrals?
The FMCSA stated that its legal team does not believe , specifically would apply to false data required on the form. The cases FMCSA has referred to DOT OIG are “usually considered under a federal law that prohibits false statements’ which is broader, and would catch things such as false information on a DOT form,” the agency stated.
It seems that, just as FMCSA cites the 2019 Department of Transportation Administrative Law judge ruling as removing its authority to assess civil penalties of $10,000 for violations of commercial regulations and registration requirements even though they are codified regulations, there is a way around enforcing laws on the books.
FMCSA immediately stated that it reviews all applications to determine if they meet the statutory and regulatory requirements of registration. Applications that do not meet these requirements can be rejected. Approximately 60-70 applications are rejected each month because they don’t satisfy FMCSA’s requirements.
[ Related to Fighting trucking fraud networks through the FMCSA’s registration system]