OAN’s Abril Elfi
1:47 PM – Monday, May 6, 2024
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that two men were sentenced on Friday in federal court in Brooklyn for a fraud scheme involving JetBlue Airways.
According to the DOJ, Keily Nunez, a 44-year-old former JetBlue employee from Jamaica, New York, and 39-year-old Julien Levy of Englewood, New Jersey, stole $10 million from JetBlue Airways.
They stated that Nunez and another unidentified JetBlue employee took bribes from Levy between July 2017 and June 2021 in exchange for approving invoices totaling more than $1.5 million for aircraft parts between JetBlue and Levy’s business, Summit Aviation Supply.
They added that Nunez also took bribes in exchange for approving invoices totaling more than $8.5 million for aircraft parts between JetBlue and Alaris Aerospace Systems, a Florida-based company that sells aircraft parts and is owned by a co-conspirator.
Levy and Nunez, according to HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ivan Arvelo, misused their power to plan a scam that defrauded JetBlue Airways.
“Levy and Nunez went as far as manipulating the identity of a deceased airline employee to circumvent the company’s policies and procedures with the sole intention of enriching themselves,” Arvelo said.
Additionally, according to officials, Nunez was previously sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in a different scheme to submit fraudulent loan applications in order to defraud the U.S. Small Business 2 Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program out of $1.5 million.
Levy and Nunez will serve 20 to 40 months in prison after entering a guilty plea in 2023 to honest services wire fraud.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts