Polar Air Cargo former vice president Abilash Kurien was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail for his role in a scam that cheated the airline of $32 million. This is the latest development in the airline’s widespread fraud scandal.

“Betrayed his employer’s trust”

Kurien, 46, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release by Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In addition, Kurien was ordered to forfeit $7.2 million and pay $22.9 million in restitution to Polar Air Cargo.

Polar_Air_Cargo_Boeing_747-400F_
49% of Polar Air Cargo is owned by DHL. 

In a statement from the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, US Attorney’s Office, Attorney Damian Williams said:

“Abilash Kurien betrayed his employer’s trust. Over the course of more than a decade, Kurien took millions of dollars in kickbacks for himself and caused tens of millions in dollars in losses to the company he worked for. This Office and our law enforcement partners will not stop in rooting out corporate fraud.”

Kurien had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges of committing wire fraud and money laundering. He is not the only one involved in this scandal.

The Fraud scheme

From 2009 to July 2021, Abilash Kurien and at least nine other people took part in a massive plan to defraud Polar Air Cargo, according to the charging documents and other filings and statements made in court. Kurien and three other high-ranking executives, colluded with six other people who owned and controlled other Polar vendors and clients. These executives engaged in corrupt practices in exchange for favorable contracts, priority cargo loading, preferential shipping rates, and inclusion in incentive programs.

British Airways, Boeing 747-8, Freighter
Polar Air currently operates the other two aircraft for DHL.

Additionally, the executives allegedly concealed their ownership stakes in certain service providers and received distributions based on revenues from contracts with Polar. These contracts were often secured and renewed due to the recommendations of the executives involved. Collectively, the limited liability companies they controlled received approximately $23 million in kickback payments.

Key players involved

This sentencing is part of a broader case involving multiple defendants. To date, nine of the accused have pleaded guilty, with only one remaining defendant, supplier Skye Xu, scheduled for trial on October 28.

Just last week, Carlton Llewellyn, former vice president of operations systems performance and quality, received a six-month prison sentence last week. In late August, Robert Schirmer, who served as senior director of customer service for the Americas, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 200 hours of community service.

The most significant sentence was given in May to Lars Winkelbauer, the former chief operating officer of Polar, who was determined as the conspiracy’s mastermind. Winkelbauer received four years in federal prison after being arrested in Thailand and extradited to the United States.

Patrick Lau, who led the forwarder Cargo on Demand, was previously sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Polar_Air_Cargo_N857GT_01-10-2024

Polar Air Cargo, a joint venture of Atlas Air
and DHL
Express, has a fleet of eight large Boeing cargo planes, including four 747-8s and four 777s. As part of its business plan, the company reserves the majority of its space for DHL and sells the remaining area to freight forwarders.

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