A federal grand jury in Denver returned an indictment on August 21, 2025, charging two Denver-area companies and their top executives with defrauding the federal government by selling forklifts at an inflated price and conspiring to evade proper tariffs on forklifts imported into the United States.
According to court documents, Endless Sales Inc. (Endless), Octane Forklifts, Inc. (Octane), current executives Brian Firkins and Jeffrey Blasdel, and former executive J.R. Antczak allegedly conspired to import forklifts from China, disguise the Chinese origin of the forklifts, and then sell the forklifts to federal government agencies by fraudulently representing the forklifts as being manufactured in the United States.
The indictment also alleges that Endless, Octane, Firkins, Blasdel, and Antczak conspired with an unnamed Chinese national and a Chinese manufacturer to create fake commercial invoices that fraudulently undervalued the cost of forklifts that Endless and Octane imported into the United States, thereby defrauding the government of over $1 million in applicable tariffs, duties, and fees.
Firkins, Blasdel, and Antczak are each additionally charged with separate wire fraud charges, and Blasdel is also charged with making false statements to the government.
“Defrauding the United States to profit from goods made in adversarial nations like China undermines our economic and national security,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
The defendants fraudulently hid the origins of the products they sold to the government and conspired to avoid paying tariffs, said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Federal contractors are expected to be honest in their dealings with the government, according to Deputy Inspector General Robert Erickson of the U.S. General Services Administration Office of Inspector General.
Firkins, Blasdel, Antczak, Endless, and Octane are charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349. Firkins, Blasdel, and Antczak are similarly charged with individual counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
For the executives, each conviction carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. For the corporations, the maximum penalty is a fine of $500,000.
Firkins, Blasdel, Antczak, Endless and Octane are also charged with conspiring to enter goods into the United States by means of false or fraudulent statements.
For the executives, a conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
For the corporations, the maximum penalty is a fine of $500,000, or twice the gain derived from the offence, or twice the loss caused by the offence.
Finally, Blasdel is charged with making false statements to the government, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
