John F. Kennedy International Airport. Inset: A Delta plane.

By Michael Mashburn From Daily Voice

Five men have been indicted in a series of bribery and money laundering schemes that allegedly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars — along with luxury trips — to a high-level Delta Airlines employee at JFK Airport.

The three long-running schemes involved fraudulent invoices, kickbacks, and cash bribes aimed at securing and protecting lucrative cargo-handling contracts at the Queens airport, according to the New York Attorney General’s office.

The investigation was conducted jointly by state prosecutors and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Scheme 1: Quarterly Cash Bribes and Vacation Kickbacks

Prosecutors allege that Irfan Syed, CEO of Jet Way Security and Investigations and Jet Way Aviation Services; Beau Baer, a Jet Way director; and a third co-conspirator at Alliance Ground International paid a Delta employee roughly $8,000 in cash each quarter in exchange for continued business.

To mask the payments, Syed and the co-conspirator allegedly created fake $25,000 quarterly invoices from AGI to Jet Way, prosecutors said. The funds were then split between the two men and the Delta employee, according to investigators.

The Attorney General’s Office said the bribes totaled approximately $375,000 between 2018 and 2023. The Delta employee was also treated to quarterly trips to Las Vegas and annual trips to Atlantic City, where meals and expenses were covered.

Syed, Baer, and the third co-conspirator are charged with conspiracy, money laundering, commercial bribery, and scheme to defraud, among other counts.

Scheme 2: Vendor Payments Laundered Through Sham Company

In a separate operation, prosecutors said Raymond Kayume helped a corporate vendor route bribe payments to the same Delta employee.

The vendor allegedly agreed to pay five percent of its Delta earnings as kickbacks to maintain its business relationship. The company wrote checks to Kayume’s firm, Kennedy Advanced Professional Services, for work that prosecutors say never happened. Kayume then allegedly kept half of the money and passed the rest to the Delta employee.

Kayume is charged with money laundering, falsifying business records, and scheme to defraud. Prosecutors said the vendor agreed to forfeit $1 million in proceeds.

Scheme 3: Bribes Tied To Compressed Gas Sales

A third indictment centers on Joseph Puzzo, a manager at American Compressed Gases. Prosecutors said Puzzo arranged bribes of $2 to $3 per canister of compressed gas sold to Delta’s cargo operations.

The payments allegedly moved through an intermediary company disguised as “consulting fees,” with half of the funds kept by the intermediary and the remainder written out as rent checks to the Delta employee. Prosecutors said there was no office and the checks were simply bribe payments.

Puzzo is charged with money laundering, falsifying business records, and scheme to defraud.

Syed, Baer, Kayume, and Puzzo were arraigned Wednesday, Dec. 10, before Queens County Supreme Court Judge John Zoll.

“When businesses bribe their way into lucrative contracts, everyday New Yorkers can suffer the consequences of worse service and higher costs,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“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.”