Feds make busts in $75 million oil scheme (NY)

[babylonsister]

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzoil0720,0,7697309.story?coll=ny-business-leadheadline

Feds make busts in $75 million oil scheme
Home heating trucks firms shorted customers
BY ROBERT KESSLER
July 19, 2007, 9:56 PM EDT

By rigging the meters on heating-oil trucks, two oil companies shorted their customers on Long Island and in New York City out of millions of gallons and resold the oil on the black market for $75 million in cash, according to federal officials and sources.

Federal agents Thursday morning seized dozens of heating-oil delivery trucks, raided oil terminals on Long Island and in the metropolitan area, and charged four top executives of two companies -- Mystic Tank Lines of Astoria and T&S Trucking of Brooklyn -- in the alleged fraud.

Mystic's customers are mainly large institutions such as apartment complexes, hospitals, commercial buildings, and federal and state offices. Officials declined to identify them, citing the ongoing investigation.

The case is part of a larger investigation of what may be an "endemic" practice in the industry, known as "shorting" or "skimming," according to court documents and sources.

The actions Thursday involved 200 agents of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.

more...

[debbierlus]

1. Spitzer should be President

[napi21]

2. There was another bust not too long ago where the drivers of

either gas or diesel delivery trucks were doing the same damn thing. THEY got caught because they got greedy! Instead of just shorting 5-10 gal at a time, they were shorting 1/4 of the truck!

Feds did a good job catching all these guys!

The problem I see with this NY case is how will they ever determine how much to reimburse each customer?

[DURHAM D]

3. Hopefully these charges will sweep across the country

and eventually down to the actual gas pumps. When I get gas for my lawn mower the 2 1/2 gallon reading on the pump doesn't begin to fill up my 2 1/2 gallon gas can. The station owner tells me its my gas can - something wrong with the can ...

When I was a kid we would see the state inspectors around all of the time checking for the accuracy of the gas pumps. Haven't seen one in years. Someone told me that there are only l or 2 for the entire state of North Carolina now. It would surprised me if there are that many.