The CEO of Arrow transport has personally been fined $22 million and given 7 years in prison after he used company funds to enrich himself, then closed doors just days before Christmas.

Almost 6 years after abruptly closing the doors on his company just days before Christmas, former CEO of Arrow Trucking, Doug Pielsticker, has been sentenced to serve 7 and a half years in jail and pay $22 million in restitution and fines.

After needing a delay to take more time to decide his sentence, a federal judge finally announced Pielsticker would spend 90 months in jail. Initially, Pielsticker had been charged with 23 counts in a federal conspiracy case, but he was able to reduce those down to just one count of conspiracy and one count of tax fraud in exchange for pleading guilty.

The maximum sentence could have been 10 years in prison, but before sentencing Pielsticker's lawyer tried to get his client away without any jail time at all. He asked the judge to "impose the shortest period of incarceration, if any, warranted under the circumstances," claiming that Pielsticker suffered from a "unique heart condition."

For his own part, Pielsticker admitted that he had made some bad decisions, but still places the blame for his company's demise everywhere but on himself. According to him, it wasn't the luxury sports cars or the lavish wedding paid for with company money that brought down the once-successful carrier. Nor was it the tax fraud, bank fraud, or stealing from employee paychecks.  Instead, Pielsticker still blames a weak economy for the sudden closure that left hundreds of drivers stranded across the country and over 1,700 employees without a job.

In addition to his jail time, Pielsticker will have to pay $1 million in fines and $21 million in restitution to the IRS and Transportation Alliance Bank, the bank who he defrauded of millions by submitting fake invoices to artificially inflate his company's earnings.

"Mr. Pielsticker abdicated his responsibility as the CEO of Arrow Trucking, and concocted a fraudulent scheme to mask his illegal activities," said Scott L. Cruse, a special agent with the FBI who worked on the case. "In doing so Pielsticker chose his own personal extravagances over the needs of his employees, which ultimately led to Arrow Trucking closing its doors during the Christmas holidays, a time when all of us count on our paychecks the most."

Source: fox23, joc, newson6, truckinginfo, newson6, washingtontimes

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