Carlton Llewellyn has become the sixth defendant to plead guilty so far to participation in “a massive scheme” to defraud cargo specialist Polar Air Cargo (PO, New York JFK), the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced in a statement.
Llewellyn, 55, a former vice president of operations, system performance, and quality at the airline, pled guilty on January 16 to conspiracy to commit “wire fraud” - which involves telecoms or the internet - before US District Judge Jesse M Furman.
“Carlton Llewellyn was a senior executive entrusted with running the operations of a leading cargo airline. He betrayed that trust and engaged in a kickback scheme to defraud his employer and enrich himself, and his plea is another step toward rooting out corporate fraud,” said Damian Williams, attorney for the Southern District of New York.
According to the allegations contained in the indictment and statements made in public filings and public court proceedings, from around 2009 to July 2021, ten individuals including Llewellyn participated in the scheme to defraud Polar. He and three co-defendants were senior executives, while six owned or operated some of the carrier’s vendors and customers.
“The Executive Defendants agreed to accept millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Vendor Defendants and reaped substantial financial benefits as a result of their secret ownership interests in certain Polar vendors, in exchange for ensuring that those vendors received favourable business arrangements with Polar,” the attorney’s office recounted. “The fraud they perpetrated, which involved a substantial portion of Polar’s senior management and at least ten customers and vendors of Polar, led to pervasive corruption of Polar’s business, touching nearly every aspect of the company’s operations, for over a decade.”
As a result of the scheme, Llewellyn and the other 'executive defendants' “received unlawful payments either directly or through various limited liability companies they controlled” totalling more than USD23 million as “kickback payments or disbursements as a result of their ownership of conflicted companies.” Another senior executive, Robert Schirmer, pleaded guilty last October.
Llewellyn pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He also agreed to pay USD347,879.44 as forfeiture and “make restitution” to Polar in the amount of USD305,800. Furman is scheduled to sentence him on May 7.
