Jerry Moyes has stepped down as president of Swift Transportation, the company announced recently. In addition, media outlets reported he would also step down as chief executive by the end of 2005.

Robert W. Cunningham, who served as a senior executive at Swift from 1985 to 1997, will take over as president and chief operating officer immediately. He will also join the company’s board.

Moyes is not alone in leaving his post at the company. Gary Enzor, Swift’s chief financial officer, has taken a job as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Tampa, FL-based Quality Distribution Inc., a company that operates roughly 3,500 tractors and 8,250 trailers through two subsidiaries, Quality Carriers Inc and TransPlastics.

Swift’s senior executive vice president, William Riley, will fill Enzor’s former position until a permanent replacement can be found.

The announcements were the latest part of a string of difficulties at the truckload carrier. Since the company’s announcement of the management changes, two law firms have announced intentions to sue the company regarding alleged financial irregularities.

New York City-based law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman announced Nov. 6 that it had filed a class-action lawsuit against Swift and some of its officers on behalf of stockholders who purchased stock between Oct. 16, 2003, and Oct. 1, 2004.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, alleges that the company made false and misleading statements about its U.S. Department of Transportation safety rating and the impact of recently enacted DOT regulations on Swift’s operations, as well as other factors. The suit alleges the statements were issued to prop up the price of the stock, which Moyes has used as collateral for loans.

A Hartford, CT-based law firm, Schatz & Nobel, announced Nov. 8 that it had filed a similar class-action suit, citing similar concerns.

The company was already in potentially hot water long before that, however. Swift officials said earlier this fall that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had geared up an informal inquiry into the company, launching a formal investigation into stock trades by Arizona-based Swift and some company insiders, including Moyes.

Swift indicated in a release that the investigation was focusing on some of Moyes’ stock trades and certain company stock repurchases.

John Nester, an SEC spokesman, told Land Line an informal inquiry is a preliminary step taken by SEC officials in which they gather or receive information that can cause staff to initiate an informal inquiry. A formal investigation – technically called “a formal order of investigation” – is when SEC officials authorize their staff to “expend the necessary resources and time to determine whether securities laws have been violated.”

During such an inquiry, the SEC can give its investigators the power to subpoena people or documents.

Nester said SEC officials cannot officially confirm or deny any specific investigation, and would not confirm whether Swift or Moyes were the subject of an SEC inquiry.

Swift operates a large truckload fleet that includes a significant number of owner-operators, including many OOIDA members.

– By Mark H. Reddig, associate editor
mark_reddig@landlinemag.com