New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the indictments of five people for dozens of crimes related to their roles in years-long bribery and money laundering schemes to secure favorable contracts from Delta Airlines (Delta) at JFK Airport in Queens. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) uncovered three different bribery and money laundering schemes that allegedly used fraudulent invoices and cash payments to bribe a high-level Delta employee in order to secure contracts for cargo industry companies they owned. Raymond Kayume, Joseph Puzzo, Irfan Syed, Beau Baer, and a fifth co-conspirator were charged with multiple counts of commercial bribery, money laundering, conspiracy, scheme to defraud, and other crimes.
“When businesses bribe their way into lucrative contracts, everyday New Yorkers can suffer the consequences of worse service and higher costs,” said Attorney General James. “These bribery schemes impacted critical shipping services at one of the busiest airports in the nation. These individuals repeatedly broke the law, but today we are shutting down their pay-to-play schemes and holding them accountable.”
“We’re grateful for our strong partnership with the Attorney General’s Office that helped us uncover these alleged schemes inside JFK’s cargo operations,” said Port Authority Inspector General John Gay. “Blatant bribes, fake invoices, and vacation kickbacks have no place in an environment that depends on honesty and accountability. Our office will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to compromise the safety and integrity of the region’s critical transportation infrastructure.”…