How I Almost Went to Prison for Running a Moving Business

Hey, my friend, it's Louis Massaro, founder and CEO of Moving Mastery. And this week I want to talk to you about something that's really important to me, okay? And as a moving company owner, it should be really important to you. I want to share the story of how I almost went to prison for running my moving business. Okay? For those of you who don't know my story, who haven't been following me, you know, I started my moving company when I was 19 years old, alright, out of a truck rental yard with two rental trucks. I was able to grow that to a nationwide multi million dollar company. So, you know, I had locations throughout the U.S. i had a long distance business and that's what I did from 2000 to 2010 for 10 years. And in 2010, I made a decision that I was no longer going to service my own interstate long distance shipments, right? It was just a lot. I was running all my local companies and I had trucks basically servicing all the work from those companies running all around the country. And it was a lot. It was very time consuming and challenging. So I said, you know what, I have a call center set up. Let me just go ahead and broker moves, right? We won't service them ourselves, but we're able to book them here in our call center and we'll broker them out. So I sold my long distance fleet and I started and I became a broker, okay? And you know, I didn't realize at first that when we were brokering out moves that, you know, we would need customer service, right? So at first it was, you know, it was a little bit messy, right? We were booking a ton of moves and you know, the carriers weren't always communicating with the customers and providing customer service. So I brought on customer service team, right? We brought on a customer customer service manager, hired 10 customer service agents and we started essentially handling all the customer service for our jobs, right? And you know, it took about a good year to really get the brokering business under control. You know, it was, it was a whole new set of challenges, right? I mean, with my own trucks it was, you know, you were worried about where they were, who needed fuel, who needed helpers in different cities to help them load or unload trucks, you know, the coordination and the logistics of the shipments. And with brokering, you didn't have any of that to worry about. I was just booking the moves. But I also wasn't in control of how they got serviced. So it was a transition, right? It was a lot to, you know, figure out. It was a whole new Set of, you know, really procedures and SOPs for how you ran that business. It was totally different. So it took a good year of getting that in order and finally started to get it where we wanted it to be. And one day, I'm at the airport, actually, in Dallas, on my way back from a call center seminar, and I get a phone call. It's my office manager, and she says, the FBI is here with a search warrant. They just sent everybody home. You know, they cleaned out the office. They sent everybody home, and they want to talk to you. And I said, okay. So I got on the phone, and they said, we have a search warrant for your office. I said, okay. Well, you know, she'll show you. You know, whatever you guys need. If you have a search warrant, you have a search warrant. So I ended up flying back. I was already on my way back. I got to my office around 2, 3 in the afternoon. They were still there. I pulled up and saw about 18 to 20 agents carrying out boxes, a whole team in my server room downloading files. You know, it was FBI dot. And it was like a dream. Not a good dream, but it just. I didn't. It just caught me off guard. I just didn't understand what was going on. And the agent gave me his card, and I said, all right, I'll have my attorney reach out to you. And I talked to my moving attorney at first, and I said, what's going on? He said, I think you need to hire a criminal attorney. I said, really? He said, yeah, if the FBI and they were there with a search warrant, I think it's more than just moving. I said, all right. So I hired some criminal attorneys and had them reach out to find out what was going on. And apparently they had been investigating my company for a year prior to that. And, you know, it turns out that right around that same time the investigation started, we booked a move that we broke it out to a company. That customer, Their price, their original price got raised to. To more inventory or whatever it was. The price got raised, There was a discrepancy with the carrier, and they didn't want to pay the bill. The carrier put their stuff in storage until they were able to resolve the discrepancy. Turns out that customer was a United States attorney. If you don't know what a U.S. attorney does, they are the prosecutors. They are the ones that bring federal indictments and charges for federal crimes. Okay, so, you know, that was the year prior, right, when the investigation started. So it all started to make sense now why I had FBI at my door. Why? I had DOT at my door. And, you know, they didn't shut my company down. I kept operating, kept improving. You know, still tweaking the process. On becoming a broker, I really felt that I could really get it to a point where it was seamless, where it was a great transaction for the customer. There was no issues with the carrier. We put a lot of processes in place to help that. And, you know, I voluntarily, a few years later, decided to close the broker business after I realized that if I don't have full control over the move, if I'm not booking it and servicing it, I just don't know what's going to happen on the other end. Right. So anyways, back to the investigation that started in 2011. This went on for years, and I kept operating my business. And in 2015, I had sold some companies already and was really making a transition out of the moving business. I received a call from my attorney who said the government reached out to me, and they said they're getting ready to indict you for fraud charges on 52 customers that were victims of fraudulent activity by you and your company. So we started talking about it, and it was, you know, they offered a plea agreement to where if I pled guilty, it would be one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of not returning household goods. I said to my attorney, I said, I don't even have trucks. How could I not return household goods? He said, well, that's what it is. Okay? So speaking with my attorney, we looked at it and we looked over the files of 52 customers and said, you know what? Some things happen here, right? Some things happen with these customers, and I'm going to take responsibility for that. Okay? They weren't told we were a broker, okay? I did the research and I looked on these customers. They weren't. And really went through it and said, you know what? All right, These things happen at my company, all right? Wasn't my intention. My intention wasn't for that to happen. You know, during this period, you know, we were booking 12,000 moves a year. So the investigation encompassed two years, 26 months. So in that 26 months, there was originally 52 customers that were. They found after their years of investigating that had been defrauded. Okay? We had done over 24,000 moves in that time. So I pled guilty, okay? Long story short, I pled guilty. I took responsibility for what happened with those customers, for my company, for the actions of everyone involved. And, you know, I prepared to face the judge and see what, you know, what the outcome was going to be. You know, I still had to be sentenced to. Well, it turns out that it was discovered after looking at it, that 29 of the 52 customers weren't my customers. So I originally pled guilty to 52 customers, but 29 of them had never even done business with my company. It was just, here's the 52, here's what we found. You know, I didn't know to question that. I said, okay, well, if you have 52 customers and these are the things that happen, you know, they don't give you the names, they give you kind of initials and dates and things like that to keep it, you know, confidential. And so I pled the. I plead guilty to 52 customers. And anyways, it turns out it was only 23. And I don't mean to say it was only 23, because you know what? It was still 23. And to those 23 customers that were defrauded by my company, I apologize. You know, I already have. I'm deeply sorry that my company put you through what you went through in your hardship and your troubles and everything that it caused you. Right? And you know, I took responsibility for that, all right? I received eight months of home detention and two years of probation. I paid fines and restitution. And I'm telling you this story because it's important to realize that you're responsible for everyone in your company. You're responsible for the companies that you do business with. As a business owner, you take on the responsibility of everything that happens under you, alright? So it's not, you know, you could look at it and say, well, you did 24,000 moves. And out of the 24,000 moves, there was 23 customers that had a fraudulent experience. But you know what? There was still 23, even if it was one. So I take responsibility for that. And it's really why I'm doing what I'm doing today. Alright? Like I said, they never shut me down. You know, they even made a comment that my businesses were running great. It was just a matter of those periods, that period of time at the beginning when we were initially getting a brokerage business started. So, you know, it's really what brought me to do this. It's really what brought me to start moving Mastery. I mean, I could still be in the moving business if I wanted to, you know, making money running moving companies. But you know, know what? I felt a sense of a calling, right? I felt that this was more of a purpose of what I was supposed to do and why I had to learn this lesson, why I went through this and why I experienced everything that I experienced. Not only did I experience everything there was in the moving industry, from starting a company from scratch and growing a company to a multimillion dollar level, local businesses, long distance businesses, buying companies, selling companies, running a brokerage business, I also went through a four year investigation. I said, you know what, there's a reason that this is happening. And I wanted to share that information with people that might need it. Right. When I was coming up in the business, I didn't really have the guidance that I needed. Right. I lost my father at an early age. You know, I was only 29 when I decided to become a broker, but I had 10 years of experience in the moving industry. You know, I had, by the time I was 23, I had five offices at that point open and a call center. I was already a millionaire, you know, and it was a bad decision to become a moving broker. Right. And it just spiraled out of control a little bit. For the first few months, I mean, we were booking a lot of moves and trying to get them serviced and handled by good carriers was challenging. You know, people ask me, do you recommend that I become a broker? And I say, no, I don't recommend that you become a broker. You know, if you're going to book and service interstate moves, then book and service interstate moves or book and do an interline agreement with people that you trust to handle interstate moves. Right? That's the way to do it. Because if you feel confident about who you're giving it to, you should have no problem putting it on your own paperwork and doing an interline agreement to give it to that company. So anyways, that's why I'm doing all this. I mean, I sat there literally in the courtroom waiting for my attorney to arrive, sitting on the bench and I said, this is crazy, I can't believe this is happening. And I say, I need to do something to help this from happening. Right. I don't want to see customers being taken advantage of. I don't want to see moving companies make poor decisions and do things that may put them in a position that I'm in. I mean, I'm going to have to live with this my whole life. You know, I now have a felony on my record that I have to live with my whole life for running my moving company. And you know, again, I said, you know what? I'm going to take my experience in the business, the good, the bad, how to grow, how to Sell how to market your business. And then everything I Learned from this 4 year investigation and going through the system and seeing what's legal, what's not legal, what's considered a crime, and what's considered a violation. Right? And that's why I'm doing this. I mean, if you wonder why I'm shooting these videos every week and I'm giving free information and free advice on the moving industry, that's why, you know, I could still be in the business making money. You know, I'm shooting these videos because I really, really, really want to help, all right? In any way that I can. So if these videos are helpful, that's awesome. That's why I'm doing this. I spent 16 years in the business and I want to be able to give back the information, the knowledge, the experience, and I don't want to see anybody go through the troubles that I went through. All right? So what I could say to you is, moving forward, take a look at your company, all right? And I know if I was you and I was watching me, I might say, yeah, I'm not doing anything. Like, we're not doing anything wrong. You did something wrong. We're not doing anything wrong. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. All right? When they come in and you know, at the end of four years, they hand you, these are your customers, and this is what happened. That happened on my watch, you know, that happened by my company, my employees. So, you know, you're responsible for everybody that you have working for you, for everybody that you do business with and all the decisions that you make. So if you're ever at a point where your business feels like it's just really moving so quickly that you're not totally in control of what's going on, you need to get a hold of the reins. Don't be in a position where you're not aware of everything that's happening and situations that are happening with your customers. All right? If you start to see some writing on the wall, if you start to see some escalated complaints coming in that are unusual, stop, look at them, address them, figure out why they're happening, and put an end to it immediately. Right? It's not, it wasn't my intention to have these, these things happen. Right? And you know, it's not about the amount of customers that were defrauded versus you could see that, obviously. I mean, if you look at over 24,000 customers booked and serviced against 23 customers, right? You may say, well, that's not a lot, but Guess what? It was enough that I almost went to prison for it, right? It was enough that I'm now a felon because of it. So don't look at it and say, you know, my complaints in ratio to how many moves we do are low. I'm doing good. Focus on every single customer, alright? Every single customer that you service, make sure that they know everything up front, alright? Be proactive in the way that you're taking your estimates, the way that you're training your team, the way that you're gathering inventory. Whether it's over the phone or you're doing an on site, be proactive about that. Don't just allow a customer to say, this is all I have. Dig deeper and find out everything they have. Make sure they know clearly if you have more than what you're telling us, the price will go up when we arrive. Okay? You know, even though we're giving you a binding estimate, if there are more items when we show up than are on this list, we're going to do a revision and it's going to cost you more money. So please verify this list, make sure everything is on it and send them the inventory and make sure you're clear about that. There's no reason customers should have surprises on the day to move and that their price should be raised. I mean, you're the professional, I'm the professional. As professionals, we need to take the responsibility of making sure that someone that doesn't know how this all works understands that if every single thing, every single item is not on the inventory and every single service that they need is not on the inventory, that it could affect the price. All right? So just make sure you're being clear about that. Make sure that whoever's working for you, being upfront and honest, you know, have everybody saying the same thing. Have everybody working off of a sales script so that you're in compliance. All right? I notices, you know, you may say, hey, why would I listen to you? You know, at the end of the day, I think 24,000 customers in a two year period and a four year investigation that came back with 23 customers, where things went wrong. You know, I don't want to say it was a good track record because I don't want to take away from the 23 people who had the hardship. But I'm telling you because I've been through it, right? It's easy to say we're doing everything right until there's 20 FBI agents knocking at your door with a search warrant. Okay? There is an investig there's active investigations going on, right? So it's not, you know, it's not just me. I mean, if you look it up, they have a. It's called Operation Boxed up, right? I'll put the link down below. I mean, I'm not, I'm not trying to hide from this. I want to make sure that you take this information and do whatever you want to do with it, right? You could say, you know what, that guy, he did this and he did that, right? That's him. I don't do things that way. Or you say, you know what, what do I need to look at, right? What do I need to make sure that everybody in my company is doing a certain way? Because you know what, if your driver does something wrong, if your salesperson does something wrong, if your dispatcher says something wrong to the customer, you're responsible. It's all coming back on you, all right? Just remember that, all right? My intentions, again, were not to go out and defraud anybody, right? But at the end of the day, here I am. All right? This is what happened. I told you the whole story. So listen, I'm here. If you have any questions, message me. You know, if you want to know how this all went down, if you want to know ways of making sure that you can stay compliant, ways that you could be booking more moves, whatever it is, I'm here. This is what I'm doing now. I'm dedicated. I'm on a mission to turn this industry around, alright? And I'm gonna do it from the inside out. I want to work with moving companies. I want to help them get to that next level. You see a lot of my other videos. I'm not sharing all of this information. Because you know what? First you need to be able to get to that next level while servicing your customers and doing the right thing. You need to be able to make a living in your business. You need to be able to make money in your business, right? So you also need to understand the ramifications of running a business if it's not done 100% correct, all right? So that's why I'm putting out this information. That's why I'm coaching companies, working with companies. I'm here to help. All right? We're going to turn this industry around. And it's not because I'm saying you need to be turned around, right? But we all know there's companies out there that if they knew a better way of doing things, they might do it a better way, right? I didn't know a better way than becoming a broker. I said, you know what, I have all these leads coming in, I have all these calls coming in, we have all this long distance business from all of our locations. I don't want to chase trucks all around the country anymore. Let me just become a broker. I have a call center, right? I didn't have the guidance for somebody to say, you know what, what if the carriers don't service the customers the way you service the customers? What if you have no control over it anymore, right? I didn't have somebody there to say that to me. So, you know, I want to become that for anybody that needs that, right? If you need the help, I'm here. Reach out to me, alright? So I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions about it, reach out to me. All right? I'm going to put, you know, press releases in the link so that you could see it from the, from the source. And just know that if you go out there every day and you do the right thing and you take care of your customers and you don't allow your business to get over your head to where you don't know if all your customers are taken care of, you're gonna do good. Alright, I'll see you later.