Owner corroboration

When live, this check will

Confirm that the person FMCSA names as the carrier's contact is a real, identifiable individual tied to the carrier — corroborated across multiple independent public sources. The check is deliberately forgiving by design: no single source is required and the pool of sources is broad enough that even rural owner- operators can clear the bar.

The structure is a four-of-ten test. Ten independent public sources are checked. A pass requires four or more of them to confirm the named individual is connected to the named carrier. OFAC sanctions screening runs separately and always.

Where the data will come from

Ten candidate sources, evaluated independently:

1. Secretary of State filing. Name appears on the SoS officers / members / managers list (from the SoS check).
2. WHOIS registrant. Name appears in the domain WHOIS, when not redacted (from the Domain check).
3. Phone reverse-lookup. Carrier's filed phone number ties to the named individual through a public reverse-lookup service.
4. Email domain plausibility. Email at the carrier's domain has a working MX record and a plausible mailbox for the named individual.
5. LinkedIn presence. A LinkedIn profile exists for the named individual identifying them with the carrier. Honest note: LinkedIn is hostile to automation; this source is consulted conservatively.
6. Facebook business page. Carrier has a public Facebook business page listing the named individual as owner or contact.
7. Public news / press hits. Search returns the named individual paired with the carrier in legitimate sources (industry directories, local news, press releases).
8. BBB or local business directory. Better Business Bureau or comparable directory lists the carrier under the named individual.
9. County records. County property or business-license public records show the named individual at the FMCSA-filed principal address.
10. State professional or commercial license. State licensing database has a current license tied to the named individual.

Plus, separately:

• OFAC SDN screening. The named individual is screened against the US Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals list. An OFAC hit is a critical flag on its own, regardless of the four-of-ten score.

What you'll see

• Score. Out of ten. Pass = four or more independent confirmations.
• Confirming sources. Which of the ten sources confirmed, with the underlying data and source URL where the user can verify by hand.
• OFAC status. Pass, hit, or screening unavailable.

Statuses:

• Clean — four or more confirmations, no OFAC hit.
• Flag — between one and three confirmations. The named individual could not be corroborated across independent sources, but no contradicting evidence either.
• Alert — zero confirmations and the carrier is more than six months old (a fresh authority with no public footprint yet is not surprising; an established carrier with no public footprint at all is unusual). Or — an OFAC hit, regardless of score.
• Gray — FMCSA didn't disclose a contact name, so the check has nothing to corroborate.

What this does NOT tell you

• It does not establish identity beyond reasonable doubt. The check confirms the named individual is a real person tied to the carrier in multiple public records. It does not confirm the person you're speaking to on the phone is that individual.
• It does not verify ownership percentages or beneficial ownership. Corporate ownership transparency in the US is uneven, and the public record is rarely enough to establish beneficial owners.
• It does not detect fraud beyond identity fraud. A real individual genuinely tied to the carrier may still run a fraudulent operation.
• It does not promise the named individual is reachable. The data sources confirm their connection to the carrier, not their responsiveness.
• It does not catch sophisticated identity overlap. A common fraud pattern is reusing officer names that match other legitimate entities; the four-of-ten test is robust to noise but not to deliberate name collisions.

What to do with the result

Things people commonly weigh:

• A clean four-of-ten score with no OFAC hit is the routine result for established small carriers. It documents that the named contact is a real, locatable person.
• A zero-of-ten score on a new authority (under six months) is common — the public footprint hasn't accumulated. Worth pairing with the SoS check and the Domain check for additional signal.
• A zero-of-ten score on an established authority (over six months) is unusual. Real businesses leave a public trail. Absence of one warrants a closer look.
• An OFAC hit is a hard stop regardless of any other signal.

Why it matters under Montgomery

Discovery in negligent-hiring cases routinely turns on what the broker knew about who they were dealing with. Four independent public-source confirmations of the named contact's connection to the carrier is hard to characterize as carelessness. Zero confirmations, on an established carrier, is hard to characterize otherwise.

References

• OFAC SDN search — the public Specially Designated Nationals list.
• Each underlying public-source URL is included in the check's report popout when it ships, so the broker can verify any individual confirmation by hand.