Article from The Daily Wire by Ashe Schow.

New York City recently seized 46 ice cream trucks for racking up $4.5 million in parking fines since 2009 and engaging in a scam to avoid paying.

The city seized the vehicles as part of “Operation Meltdown” after it was discovered the small group of companies created shell organizations to avoid paying the fines, according to a press release from NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office.

“The owners amassed the debt through a scheme, creating dozens of ‘shell’ companies to avoid enforcement efforts by the Department of Finance,” the press release said. “Between 2009 and 2017, a small group of individuals operated companies that accrued 22,000 summonses for violations, including running red lights, parking near fire hydrants, and blocking pedestrian crosswalks, according to the City’s complaint.”

The city filed a lawsuit against the “worst offenders,” who had amassed more than $10,000 in fines. To avoid paying the fines, the city said, the owners would periodically re-register the ice cream trucks under different company names.

Read the entire article at The Daily Wire.

Image Credit: By Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia (N.Y.C. Dept of Finance: Parking Violations) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons