Senior Executive Guilty In Defrauding Westchester-Based Cargo Airline

PURCHASE, NY — A senior executive pled guilty to defrauding his international cargo airline employer, which is a subsidiary of Purchase-based Atlas Air.

Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, announced on Tuesday the guilty plea of 58-year-old Robert Schirmer, of Port Jefferson Station, in a widespread scheme to defraud Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc. of tens of millions of dollars in revenue and the honest services of its employees. Schirmer pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services fraud.

SEE ALSO: Execs' Kickback Scheme Cost A Purchase-Based Airline $52M: Feds

"Polar senior executive Robert Schirmer admitted his guilt in a scheme to defraud his employer that lasted more than a decade," Williams said. "Today’s plea reflects our Office’s longstanding commitment to rooting out corporate fraud."

According to court documents, from 2009 through July 2021, Schirmer and nine others participated in a scheme to defraud Polar. Schirmer and three co-defendants were senior executives at Polar, and six co-defendants owned and operated various Polar vendors and customers. The three executive defendants accepted millions of dollars in kickbacks from the six vendor defendants, and also gained significant financial benefits due to their secret ownership interests in certain Polar vendors, in exchange for ensuring that those vendors received favorable deals with Polar. The fraud, which involved a large portion of Polar’s senior management and at least 10 customers and vendors of Polar, led to widespread corruption of Polar’s business, reportedly touching nearly every aspect of the company’s operations, for over a decade.

The scheme resulted in the executives, along with two co-conspirators who also worked as senior executives at the company, receiving unlawful payments of more than $23 million in kickback payments or disbursements, either directly or through limited liability companies they controlled.

Schirmer pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He also agreed to pay a forfeiture of $983,759.32 and to make restitution to Polar of $9,340,729.

Schirmer is scheduled to be sentenced on February 13.

Williams praised the work of the FBI and the IRS – Criminal Investigations.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Reilly, Danielle Kudla, Kevin Mead, and Qais Ghafary are in charge of the prosecution.

SEE ALSO:

• Westchester-Based Atlas Air Acquired In $5.2 Billion Deal
• Global Aviation Giant Atlas Air Moves HQ From Purchase To White Plains