Hudson Valley Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Cargo Airline

HIGHLAND MILLS, NY — A Hudson Valley man pleaded guilty to defrauding a cargo airline of millions of dollars in revenue.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Tuesday the guilty plea of Carlton Llewellyn, 55, of Highland Mills, in connection with a massive scheme to defraud Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc. of tens of millions of dollars in revenue and the honest services of its employees.

Llewellyn pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He also agreed to pay forfeiture of $347,879.44 and make restitution to Polar of $305,800.

He is scheduled to be sentenced May 7.

Williams said 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,” he said, “and his plea is another step toward rooting out corporate fraud.”

According to prosecutors, from 2009 through July 2021, Llewellyn and nine other people participated in a massive scheme to defraud Polar.

During the timeframe, Llewellyn and three co-defendants were senior executives of the airline and six others owned and operated various Polar vendors and customers.

Llewellyn was the vice president of operations, system performance and quality for Polar.

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 some of the vendors in exchange for ensuring that those vendors received favorable business arrangements with Polar.

Authorities said the fraud they perpetrated, which involved a substantial portion of Polar’s senior management and at least 10 customers and vendors of the company, led to pervasive corruption of Polar’s business, touching nearly every aspect of the company’s operations, for over than a decade.

Through the scheme, the executive defendants, along with two co-conspirators who also worked as senior executives at Polar, received illegal payments directly or through various limited liability companies they controlled in excess of about $23 million in kickback payments as a result of their ownership of conflicted companies.

Llewellyn is the sixth person to plead guilty in the case so far.

Conspiring to commit wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to authorities.