Former Executive Gets 32 Months in Prison for Defrauding Cargo Airline

A former vice president of international cargo airline Polar Air Cargo Worldwide was sentenced to 32 months in prison on Oct. 1 for his role in scheme to defraud the airline out of more than $32 million in revenue, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Ahead of sentencing, the former executive, Abilash Kurien, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

The scheme ran from 2009 to 2021 and involved Kurien and "at least nine other individuals," three of which were Polar executives. The other six co-conspirators owned and operated "various Polar vendors and customers." The Polar employees agreed to receive "millions of dollars in kickbacks" from the vendors, additionally benefiting from their secret ownership stakes in the vendors, in exchange for business offerings with Polar, DOJ said.

The airline executives received over $23 million in kickbacks, DOJ said. Both of the other defendant executives also pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme (see 2401170016 and 2405310024).