A Romanian court has handed down a fine of about USD67,000 to Cobrex Trans (CBX, Brasov International) and suspended sentences for its Apăvăloaie family owners after they admitted to charges of fraud and money laundering for having scammed a US religious group out of USD775,000 for a bogus charter flight.

According to a statement by the Court of Brasov - seen by ch-aviation - the airline, its owner/chief executive Constantin Apăvăloaie, his wife, and their two daughters admitted guilt on all charges and partially paid damages of USD100,000. The court seized a remaining USD650,000 in a third-party bank account and USD25,000 on building insurance.

According to the plea agreement, the defendants scammed a US church group of 250 women of USD775,000 for a fake charter to have been operated by Cobrex Trans between New York JFK and Almaty International on August 15 and 17, 2022. To hide the money, they laundered USD774,956 through national and international bank transfers and currency exchanges between August 12 and September 7, 2022. After transferring USD650,000 to a US bank owned by a business partner in Ireland, the defendants forged a bank guarantee for USD650,000 to conclude an operational leasing contract with an Irish aircraft lessor on September 23, 2022, aimed at laundering the money. Investigations determined that the Irish trading partner was unaware of the money laundering. The defendants forged electronic financial statements to support the lease agreement showing the company was in good stead.

As reported, at that time, Cobrex Trans no longer had a valid Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), which was suspended in late 2021. It also did not operate any aircraft, let alone one capable of flying 250 passengers from the US to Kazakhstan.

According to the statement, the court handed down the following sentences:

  • Commercial director Mihaela Apăvăloaie received a combined sentence of three years suspended for four years for fraud with serious consequences, money laundering, and computer forgery.
  • Planning director Alexandra Apăvăloaie was sentenced to a combined two years and ten months suspended for four years for incitement to fraud with particularly serious consequences, money laundering, and complicity in computer forgery.
  • Constantin Apăvăloaie was sentenced to a combined two years and three months imprisonment suspended for three years for money laundering and complicity in computer forgery.
  • Cashier Adriana Apăvăloaie received a two-year sentence suspended for three years for money laundering.
  • Cobrex Trans was sentenced to RON200,000 lei (USD43,083) for fraud with particularly serious consequences, RON200,000 for money laundering, and RON130,000 (USD 27,994) for computer forgery. These sentences were merged, resulting in an adjusted fine of RON310,000 (USD66,764).

The airline operated a single B737-300, grounded in February 2020, where-after it operated a single Eurocopter SA365. It touted buying a B757-200(PCF) for cargo and adding an A330-200 for passenger flights, but neither of these plans materialised.

ch-aviation has approached the airline for comment.