Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Oct. 16, 2026:
- The President issued more trucking-related pardons.
- $2M credit card fraud, ID theft scheme: Fleet owner guilty.
- New leadership at national trucking orgs.
Trump issues more pardons for diesel ‘deleters’
During a midterm rally in Alaska this week, President Donald Trump announced the pardons of two co-owners of an Anchorage diesel shop who previously pleaded guilty to Clean Air Act violations for “tuning and deleting” diesel trucks.
According to a Fox News report, Trump brought Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming onstage at the rally to sign clemency documents.
A November 2022 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska detailed the charges against Czubak and Fleming, as well as a third co-owner Michael Hanzuk II, who owned Arm Rippin Toys. According to court documents, the trio “tampered with federally mandated monitoring devices on private and commercial diesel vehicles and removed required air pollution control equipment on at least 37 vehicles between July 2019 and September 2020.”
Their process included removing emissions control systems and modifying the on-board diagnostics systems to get around faults related to the missing emissions components.
[Related: DOJ policy shift on diesel ‘deletes’: Owner-ops still wary of civil enforcement]
At the time, Czubak, 25, Fleming, 29, and Hanzuk, 30, each pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Violate the Clean Air Act and were each sentenced to five years’ probation, a $66,000 fine and 180 hours of community service as a condition of probation.
Trump previously pardoned Hanzuk on Sept. 3. With Czubak and Fleming at the rally this week, Trump told supporters he was “giving each one of the three an unconditional pardon.” He also defended their actions, Fox News reported, saying they helped keep the trucks running in Alaska’s extreme weather conditions.
Trump earlier this year also issued pardons for nine individuals and six businesses previously convicted for deleting emissions.
[Related: Diesel shops, owners, fleets pardoned by Trump after emissions ‘delete’ convictions]
Trucking company owner guilty in $2M theft, ID fraud scheme
Hasan Korkmaz, the owner and operator of Santee, California-based San Diego Logistics Group Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court on Oct. 15 to all 18 counts of an indictment charging him with bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. The company is listed in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Motus database as having an inactive USDOT number.
According to his plea agreement, in 2022 and 2023, Korkmaz executed a credit card “bust-out” scheme, where fraudsters establish seemingly legitimate credit card accounts in other people’s names and then “bust out” by maxing out the credit line with no intention of paying the balance.
Korkmaz admitted that he obtained names, dates of birth, social security numbers and other personally identifiable information corresponding with real individuals, then applied for numerous credit card accounts with that information.
After opening the fraudulent credit card accounts, he used the cards to incur charges at various businesses, including his own San Diego Logistics Group. 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 admitted that he also made fraudulent payments, with checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds or drawn on non-existent accounts, to the credit card accounts, in order to temporarily restore the available credit limits. He would then incur additional charges on the credit card accounts at or near the maximum credit limits for the accounts. In total, Korkmaz caused over $2,103,000 in losses to two banks.
Korkmaz laundered the bank fraud proceeds, including by transferring proceeds from the fraud scheme internationally to a bank account in Türkiye controlled by Korkmaz.
After pulling off the scheme and laundering the money, Korkmaz absconded. There, in Türkiye, he spent the next 18 months before ultimately returning to the United States, where he was arrested in June of 2025.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2027. For the 12 counts of bank fraud, Korkmaz faces up 30 years in prison and a maximum $1 million fine. For two counts of money laundering, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum $500K fine or twice the amount of monetary instruments involved in the offense, whichever is greatest. Finally, for the four counts of aggravated identity theft, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, to run consecutively to the specified felony.
[Related: California fleet owner charged over $2 million in credit card fraud]
ATA, ATRI name new leaders
The American Trucking Associations on Thursday appointed Mark Colson as its next president and CEO, effective Dec. 1, following ATA’s former president and CEO Chris Spear stepping away from the post in August.
ATA said in his new role, Colson will “lean on his more than two decades of experience to build lasting coalitions, honor the professionals in trucking, and rally the industry behind an unstoppable cause that champions the highest standards of professionalism.”
“This is a unique moment for ATA to make a renewed commitment to the trucking industry and the professionals who call our industry home,” Colson said. “It’s a commitment built first on earned trust, a sense of family and purpose, and an unrelenting passion to fight for the issues that matter most to trucking.
“The values that trucking leaders and professionals hold dear were instilled in me at an early age in my family’s second-generation tire shop, Blow-Out Tire Company, where I grew up changing truck tires,” Colson continued. “They have followed me throughout my career fighting for the hard-working men and women throughout our industry, and it is a privilege to continue that fight alongside the team and members of ATA.”
Colson also chaired the Trucking Association Executives Council (TAEC) task force that developed the seven-point Trucking Resurgence action plan, released in December 2025 to address regulatory gaps exploited by noncompliant carriers and unqualified drivers.
Colson will become the 10th president and CEO in ATA’s history since its founding in 1933. He is a graduate of Huntingdon College, where he was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame for football. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Troy University. He also serves on Huntingdon College’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee.
The American Transportation Research Institute, ATA’s research arm, also has a new leader this week, with ATRI’s Board of Directors naming transportation and logistics executive Page Siplon as its next president and CEO. Siplon will join ATRI in November, working alongside current ATRI President Rebecca Brewster to ensure a seamless leadership transition before succeeding her upon her retirement in February 2027.
Page Siplon
“I’m incredibly excited and humbled by the opportunity to lead ATRI and build on the remarkable work Rebecca and her team have done over the years,” said Siplon. “I’ve always believed that trucking is the common denominator of our economy. Our nation simply cannot function without it. ATRI has earned a level of respect and trust throughout our industry that is truly special, and looking ahead, I see tremendous opportunity to build on that foundation, broaden our reach, and find new ways to put our research to work for the trucking industry and the economy that relies on it.”
