On July 21, 2016, Adrian Salari pleaded guilty to conspiracy in U.S. District Court, Orlando, FL. Previously, in August 2015, Ellariy Medvednik, Natalia Dontsova, and Salari were charged with conspiracy to unlawfully produce Florida driver licenses and commercial driver’s licenses (CDL).

 

This case was initiated after Florida Highway Patrol and the Orange County Florida Tax Collector’s Office discovered several hundred people applying for CDLs using the same residential address in Seminole County. This address is registered as the principal place of business for Larex Incorporated, a trucking school owned and operated by Medvednik. 

 

Larex marketed itself toward speakers of the Russian language and charged students $1,800 to $5,000 for services in obtaining a Florida CDL. Salari, along with others, helped students cheat on the CDL written exam by utilizing covert communications to supply answers during the testing. They also provided false certifications and other documents to students to satisfy Florida CDL residency requirements. Additionally, Larex arranged for students to complete the basic control skills and road test utilizing the same third-party CDL testing contractor. In all, the conspirators made it possible for at least 400 students to obtain fraudulent Florida CDLs. 

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations.