it is highly illegal to cook the books when running the clock,tattlers are there to tell,so the company must have known it was going on.
the dot takes semi trucks seriously,after all most highways allow up to 80k pounds or 40 tons carried by these trucks,making them deadly in any crash.if the driver was found cooking the books to get more money or cheating the tracking computer,he will likely face jail time since injury and death were involved.however from my experience whenever any otr diesel company has such an accident,the dot tends to come in like their the fbi and start grabbing all records related to that driver,his supervisor etc,well atleast in texas they do,and they tend to nail everyone responsible not just the lowest on the ladder involved.
this is why most companies do such strenuous paperwork,so if such an event does happen,they can rule out their guy or show his guilt,so anyone smart in such a position crosses his t's amd dots his i's,and does everything within legality.