Trucking news and briefs for Friday, June 6, 2025:
Brake Safety Week dates set with focus on drums, rotors
On the heels of its International Roadcheck inspection initiative, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has announced that its annual Brake Safety Week enforcement effort will be held Aug. 24-30.
During the week-long initiative, law enforcement personnel in the United States, Canada and Mexico will conduct routine commercial motor vehicle inspections throughout the week, focusing on brake systems and components, while educating drivers and motor carriers about the importance of brake safety and providing brake inspection and violation data to CVSA.
During the brakes-focused initiative, inspectors will focus on drums and rotors, the emphasis for this year’s brake-safety initiative. Brake drum and rotor issues may affect a vehicle’s brake efficiency. Broken pieces of drums and rotors may become dislodged from the vehicle enroute and damage other vehicles or result in injuries or fatalities to the motoring public.
[Related: Operation Safe Driver Week to focus on reckless driving]
Vehicles found to have brake-related out-of-service violations, or any other out-of-service violations, will be removed from roadways until those violations are corrected.
In addition, brake-safety educational efforts by inspectors, motor carriers and others in the industry take place during Brake Safety Week and are integral to the success of the campaign, CVSA said. CVSA also offers resources to help drivers, motor carriers, owner-operators and mechanics prepare for Brake Safety Week.
Brake Safety Week aims to improve commercial motor vehicle brake safety throughout North America. The goal, CVSA said, is to eliminate roadway crashes by conducting roadside inspections and educating drivers, mechanics, large- and small-fleet motor carriers, owner-operators, and others on the importance of proper brake inspection, maintenance and operation.
[Related: Tips to avoid brake violations]
California fleet owner charged in $2 million credit card scheme
Hasan Korkmaz, the owner and operator of San Diego Logistics Group Inc., a Santee, California-based trucking company, was arraigned in federal court June 3 on an 18-count indictment charging him with 12 counts of bank fraud, two counts of money laundering and four counts of aggravated identity theft.
Korkmaz’s company is listed on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER as having three trucks and five drivers, but an inactive USDOT number.
According to the indictment, in 2022 and 2023, Korkmaz allegedly executed a credit card “bust-out” scheme in which fraudsters establish seemingly legitimate credit card accounts and then “bust out” by maxing out the credit line with no intention of paying the balance.
The indictment alleges that Korkmaz obtained names, dates of birth, social security numbers and other personally identifiable information corresponding with real individuals. Korkmaz then allegedly applied for numerous credit card accounts with that information.
After opening the fraudulent credit cards accounts, Korkmaz allegedly used the credit cards to incur charges at various businesses, including Korkmaz’s San Diego Logitistics Group Inc. The charges were in the thousands of dollars each, including some charges as high as $18,500 in a single transaction.
To perpetuate the scheme, Korkmaz also allegedly made fraudulent payments, with checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds or drawn on non-existent accounts, to the credit card accounts, thereby temporarily restoring the available credit limits, the indictment said. Korkmaz would then incur additional charges on the credit card accounts at or near the maximum credit limits for the accounts.
As alleged in the indictment, Korkmaz laundered the bank fraud proceeds, including by transferring proceeds from the fraud scheme to a Turkish bank account that he controlled. In total, he caused more than $2,103,000 in losses to two banks.
If convicted, the bank fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine; the money laundering charges carry a max penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum $500,000 fine or twice the amount of monetary instruments involved in the offense, whichever is greatest; and the aggravated identity theft charges carry a max penalty of a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, to run consecutively to the specified felony.
