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Nov. 30th, 2004 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingA former moving-company foreman told jurors yesterday that he and his co-workers used to brag and laugh about how they had fleeced customers by overcharging for household moving jobs.
irgood testified as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The potentially damaging testimony came at the start of week three in the government's case against now-defunct Nationwide Moving Systems of Woodinville and four people charged with extorting customers. They are accused of luring customers with low prices, then jacking up costs and holding their goods hostage until they paid.
Airgood, 24, of Lynnwood said his superiors taught him to get the customer's signature on certain forms as soon as the moving crew showed up and before the forms were fully filled out. He also would tell them the move could not start unless they signed.
Then, after their stuff was loaded and the truck was locked, he would present customers with a significantly higher price than the original estimate and point to the signed forms, which gave the movers permission to charge more than the original quote and to hold the goods until the price was paid, Airgood testified.
The government has identified more than 50 customers who were harmed between the time Nationwide was formed in May 2002 and was shut down in July 2003. Actual and intended losses - including the amount the defendants tried to defraud customers out of - exceeded $1 million, prosecutors contend.
irgood testified as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The potentially damaging testimony came at the start of week three in the government's case against now-defunct Nationwide Moving Systems of Woodinville and four people charged with extorting customers. They are accused of luring customers with low prices, then jacking up costs and holding their goods hostage until they paid.
Airgood, 24, of Lynnwood said his superiors taught him to get the customer's signature on certain forms as soon as the moving crew showed up and before the forms were fully filled out. He also would tell them the move could not start unless they signed.
Then, after their stuff was loaded and the truck was locked, he would present customers with a significantly higher price than the original estimate and point to the signed forms, which gave the movers permission to charge more than the original quote and to hold the goods until the price was paid, Airgood testified.
The government has identified more than 50 customers who were harmed between the time Nationwide was formed in May 2002 and was shut down in July 2003. Actual and intended losses - including the amount the defendants tried to defraud customers out of - exceeded $1 million, prosecutors contend.