View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2014/12/08/349210.htm
Just shy of five years after Arrow Trucking Co. in Tulsa, Okla., suddenly shut its doors, the company’s former chief executive has been indicted on fraud charges related to the company’s demise.
A 23-count indictment unsealed on Dec. 5 in Dallas charges James Douglas Pielsticker, 46, with bank fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit tax fraud, tax evasion, and failing to account for and pay employee withholding taxes.
The indictment alleges that Pielsticker and a co-conspirator submitted false invoices to Transportation Alliance Bank of Ogden, Utah, that inflated the amounts due to Arrow from the bank, which had purchased the trucking company’s invoices.
Pielsticker also allegedly failed to pay personal income taxes during the tax years 2007-09 and failed to pay Arrow employee’s payroll taxes for three quarters during 2009.
Prosecutors say the actions cost the bank just more than $15 million and that Pielsticker owes just more than $9.5 million in taxes.
The indictments allege Pielsticker used the funds for his wedding, Bentley and Maserati automobiles, and for other personal uses.
The court documents do not list an attorney for Pielsticker. A phone call to a number listed for Pielsticker was answered by a man who declined to identify himself and said, when asked about the charge, that he had no idea what a reporter was talking about.
Former Arrow Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Leland Moore pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the case on Dec. 4.
Arrow suspended operations and laid off hundreds of employees Dec. 22, 2009, leaving truck drivers stranded across the country with no way to pay for fuel or to get home.
Arrow filed for bankruptcy in January 2010, hours after the bank filed a lawsuit against the company.