New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday the indictment of four Long Island men and a fifth co-conspirator for dozens of crimes related to their roles in years-long bribery and money laundering schemes to secure favorable contracts from Delta Airlines at JFK Airport.
An investigation by her office and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey uncovered three different money laundering and bribery schemes that allegedly used fraudulent invoices and cash payments to bribe a high-level Delta employee in order to secure contracts for cargo companies they owned.
Raymond Kayume and Joseph Puzzo, both from East Northport, Irfan Syed from Lloyd Harbor, and Beau Baer from Levitton, and the unnamed co-conspirator were charged with multiple counts of commercial bribery, money laundering, conspiracy, scheme to defraud and other related crimes.
“When businesses bribe their way to lucrative contracts, everyday New Yorkers can suffer the consequences of worse service and higher costs,” James said. “These bribery schemes impacted critical shipping services at one of the busiest airports in the nation. These individuals repeatedly broke the law, but today we are shutting down their pay-to-play schemes and holding them accountable.”
According to the first indictment, Syed — CEO of Jet Way Security and Investigations — and its director Baer allegedly paid $8,000 every quarter to the Delta employee in exchange for keeping contracts in place. The money was laundered through fake invoices sent from a second company, Alliance Ground International (AGI), where the co-conspirator worked. The fraudulent invoice payments, which occurred from January 2018 through January 2023, totaled approximately $375,000. The bribery included quarterly Las Vegas trips and yearly Atlantic City getaways, all paid for by Syed’s team.
The investigation also uncovered a separate bribery scheme, in which Kayume laundered bribe payments to the same Delta employee. Another corporate vendor in the cargo industry entered into an agreement with the delta employee to ensure Delta’s business. The company would write fake checks to Kayume for non-existent work, who then split the money with the employee.
According to the third indictment, Puzzo — a manager at American Compressed Gases — arranged to pay $2 to $3 in bribes per gas canister sold. The intermediary company would keep half of that bribe money, and then send the rest to the delta employee by writing rent checks for office space that did not actually exist. In exchange for the bribe payments, ACG maintained its business within Delta’s cargo warehouses at JFK.
“Blatant bribes, fake invoices, and vacation kickbacks have no place in an environment that depends on honesty and accountability,” Port Authority inspector General John Gay said. “Our office will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to compromise the safety and integrity of the region’s critical transportation infrastructure.”
The four men were arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice John Zoll on Wednesday. Syed and the unindicted co-conspirator face the most serious penalties, with potential sentences of five to fifteen years in prison. The other defendants face up to four years if convicted.
