Nearly two dozen freight brokers say an Illinois trucking company and its network of “affiliated carriers” targeted their companies a few days before the Fourth of July holiday and are holding 36 confirmed loads hostage until ransom demands are paid.
A source familiar with the situation said that number could rise to around 50 loads based on new information provided early Thursday by insurance and private investigators. On the basis of the additional information, the source estimates the total value of the missing loads may be as high as $5 million.
Since Monday, 22 freight brokerages have come forward with claims that their companies fell victim to an elaborate scheme allegedly orchestrated by Agility Express Inc. of Mundelein, Illinois, and its affiliate network of more than 24 carriers. Some brokers said they attempted to call law enforcement about their freight being held hostage, but claim they were told it appeared to be civil disputes with the carriers.
Leszek Wiech is listed as the new owner and president of Agility Express. Agility did not respond to FreightWaves’ telephone and email requests seeking comment.
An executive with a large freight brokerage who says one of his loads was hijacked by Agility or one of its affiliates said his team performed thorough vetting before using the carrier but no red flags appeared when his team booked the load. He notified his customer as soon as multiple brokers started posting about alleged missing or stolen loads associated with Agility.
“We use all of the major vetting tools and not one of them is 100% effective at identifying problem carriers,” the executive, who asked to remain anonymous, told FreightWaves. “This was a very coordinated effort by this group of carriers to take 50 loads in 10 days.”
While it’s not uncommon for bad actors in the transportation industry to hold high-value loads hostage in an effort to negotiate a higher rate, multiple sources said that wasn’t the case with these loads, which range from shipments of cardboard to plastic items to dry food products.
It is also unusual that Agility is acting as a debt collector on behalf of its affiliates. The company claims the targeted brokerages short-paid the motor carriers for loads they hauled or deducted fees from their pay for failing to arrive at their scheduled appointment times or for cases of product that were missing from loads, according to multiple sources.
The amount of unpaid debt allegedly owed to Agility and its affiliates ranges from a few hundred dollars to around $9,000 owed to a carrier that a broker suspected of double-brokering and paid the amount to the trucking company that actually delivered the loads. Some of the unpaid debts go back to 2019. After searching through their records, the brokers FreightWaves spoke to found the unpaid fees Agility and its affiliates were attempting to collect, but added that the carriers were aware of the brokerages’ policies for missing appointment times, missing cases of product or failing to properly secure loads in transit.
Some affected brokerages admit they are hesitant to acknowledge the situation publicly for fear of losing customers.
Others told FreightWaves they have been transparent with their customers since the beginning but fear retaliation from Agility and its entities if their company names are published and they are among those refusing to pay the ransom.
“My philosophy is that bad news travels fast early, so as soon as we think a load might be in jeopardy, we tell our customers,” the logistics executive said. “Brokers have to report these guys as soon as they think something suspicious is going on because that’s the only way to shut these people down. Who knows if this could have saved another 30 to 40 loads from being stolen?”
Background on Agility Express
According to the business entity search on the Illinois secretary of state’s database, Siarhei Kutsko, who also goes by Serge Kutsko, filed incorporation paperwork for Agility Express with the state in September 2017, but sources said he sold the company to Wiech in June.
The carrier updated its business filing with the state on July 5. Kutsko named Adriana Havryliuk of Arlington Heights, Illinois, as the registered agent for the company, a role he previously held and listed Wiech as the new president of Agility Express. Both are listed at the same address in Arlington Heights.
The company’s MCS-150 form, which was updated on June 24 with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, states the company has five drivers and five power units. In its previous MCS-150 filings, the company said it had one driver and one tractor.
While several mid-to-large freight brokerages approved Agility Express to move their brokered freight, Logistic Dynamics’ Mike Cannistra said his company did not.
Cannistra, executive vice president of truckload for Buffalo, New York-based Logistic Dynamics (LDi), a third-party logistics company that specializes in transportation management and brokerage services, said Agility Express popped up on its radar about a week ago before the alleged scheme was launched, adding that his company declined to approve the carrier in its system.
He and his carrier development team noticed recent changes to Agility’s MCS-150 filing, which included a different telephone number and some additional updated information.
“We made some calls to the number Agility registered with the Department of Transportation but we were unable to verify them, and then a week later, we’re hearing about all this nonsense going on with the motor carrier,” Cannistra told FreightWaves.
He said he’s done quite a bit of research about the ongoing situation since brokerages started posting on various forums Monday about missing or stolen freight and naming Agility as the carrier involved.
“At this point, we don’t know if it’s just one person who bought all of these MC numbers and is going through the accounting records of the affiliates to find any outstanding debt or if they are all working together,” Cannistra said. “This isn’t something that’s going to end with Agility once all of these companies pay these fines and hostage and ransom payments. It’s just going to move down to the next crew that’s going to do this.”
To pay or not to pay?
As of Thursday, some freight brokerage executives told FreightWaves they are refusing to negotiate with Agility or its entities to recover their freight.
As of publication Friday, it was unclear how many brokerages had paid to retrieve their freight. However, a few said they were able to get their freight, while others report that one or two brokers who paid still haven’t recovered their freight.
“Most of the brokers, from my understanding, just paid the ransom and took possession of the freight when and where they could,” a logistics specialist for a Midwestern freight brokerage, who didn’t want to be named, told FreightWaves.
His company, like several other brokerages, was struggling to find trucks to cover loads before the Fourth of July holiday and found Agility, which didn’t appear to have any red flags at the time of booking.
“We all have similar stories about what happened when our freight wasn’t delivered on time and attempts to call or email Agility about the status of our loads, and we received similar emails stating that our brokerages owed one of its 24-plus affiliates a certain amount of money to be sent immediately via Comchek before negotiations would continue to retrieve our freight,” the logistics specialist said.
Brokers who agreed to pay to retrieve their freight say they were forced to sign a settlement and release agreement, which was obtained by FreightWaves, describing the situation as a civil dispute that “has arisen among the parties regarding the broker payments due to Agility not receiving reimbursement for services provided by Agility to broker per contract.” Other caveats in the agreement state the broker agrees “not to file any insurance claims once deliveries are made” and won’t file “reports to Carrier 411, Carrier Assure, Truck Stop or any similar entities, etc. about Agility or any Agility affiliate.”
Sources close to the situation allege that Chicago-based attorney Thaddeus “Ted” Gauza is representing Agility and its network of affiliates and drafted the settlement and release agreement.
Reached by telephone, Gauza told FreightWaves that he’s the “legal counsel for a number of trucking companies,” but declined to confirm whether Agility Express and its affiliates are his clients or if he drafted and sent the settlement and release agreements to brokers willing to pay the ransom amounts to recover their freight.
“I would not be in a position to make comments regarding anything involving legal matters on behalf of clients, if they are a part of it,” Gauza said.
According to Illinois Supreme Court records, Gauza’s law license was suspended for five months in 2013 after he represented the “purported sellers in a residential real estate transaction that turned out to be an attempted fraud on the true owners of the property.” The state’s highest court also cited that he “pled guilty to domestic battery and violated an order of protection.”
“I would be careful on the source you may have put your finger on that there may be a civil matter or a dispute here and why they are reaching out to media members,” Gauza said.
A year ago around the Fourth of July holiday, freight brokers said another Illinois-based company, One Step Logistics Inc. of Chicago, which is also an affiliate of Agility, was allegedly involved in a similar freight ransom scheme. After obtaining its common carrier authority in 2021, the trucking company stated that it had one driver and one power unit. However, on June 30, 2023, One Step Logistics updated its MCS-150 form to reflect that it had 25 drivers and 25 power units. Its common carrier authority was involuntarily revoked in August 2023, according to FMCSA data.
Veteran brokers in the industry said they have participated in multiple calls this week, including one with the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents third-party logistics professionals, about the current situation and efforts going forward to prevent this from happening again.
“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg of identifying what’s happening, and I don’t see an end in sight,” Cannistra said. “It’s an unfortunate reality of where we’re at in this industry with the amount of fraudulent people that operate in our network.”
The Bannon Report first reported on the ransom scheme allegations on LinkedIn.
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