Summary

On August 4, Larry James Jackson, owner of Pacific Northwest Financial Services, Inc. (PNFS), in Portland, OR, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, CA to pay $236,347 in restitution and serve 70 months in prison for mail fraud stemming from a nationwide interstate trucking company bonding scheme. DOT regulations require $10,000 surety bonds or trust funds for ensuring the financial responsibility of trucking companies or brokers. Although Jackson was never authorized to act as a bonding company and collect trust fund monies, he falsely represented PNFS as a financial institution for that purpose. Jackson also submitted fraudulent forms to FMCSA between August and December 2003.

In addition, Jackson embezzled the money collected for his personal use. In September 2005, Jackson pled guilty, admitting to defrauding 57 interstate trucking companies or brokers. PNFS is now defunct, and all of the firms that paid money to Jackson have had their authority to operate revoked by FMCSA until they properly comply with bonding requirements.