Owner of Defunct California-based Bond Company Ordered to Pay $96,000 in Restitution
On February 2, 2016, Bonnie Warren, owner of Oasis Capital, Inc. (Oasis), of Fullerton, CA, was ordered to pay $96,000 in restitution in U.S. District Court, Los Angeles, CA. Previously, she pleaded guilty in May 2015 to wire fraud, and was sentenced in December 2015 to 4 months’ home confinement and 2 years’ probation. Oasis formerly managed FMCSA-regulated trust funds for brokers and forwarders, until a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) investigation in 2010.
The investigation was initiated jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and FMCSA, after FMCSA received allegations that Oasis was violating FMCSA regulations by accepting money from property brokers for the establishment of trust funds and actually using the money for other purposes. Trust fund monies are supposed to be maintained for the purpose of providing payments to shippers or motor carriers in cases where the broker fails to carry out its contract to provide transportation services by authorized motor carriers. In January 2010, FMCSA suspended Oasis’ privileges to file trust funds on behalf of brokers and began the process of revoking the approximately 500 Oasis trust funds on file with FMCSA.
TIA associate member Cameron Roberts and his firm, Roberts & Kehagiaras LLP, played an integral role in bringing light to the injustices done by Oasis Capital.
