"Astounding" Fraud: Worker Embezzles $36 Million

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This week, a former airline employee is to be sentenced for his part in a 14-year scheme that defrauded Delta Air Lines, and its predecessor, Northwest Airlines, out of $36 Million. An FBI investigation revealed that a long-time employee of Northwest and Delta conspired with another person to obtain payment from the airline by submitting invoices for services that were never provided.

According to published reports, Paul Anderson was a company manager who had worked for Northwest then Delta since 1979. Michael Yedor was not an employee of the airline, but owned a company called Airborne Voice and Data. The two came up with a plan to defraud the airline, which they carried out between 1999 and 2013. The scheme, which the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case in Atlanta called “astounding,” worked like this:
In order to receive payment for the false invoices, Yedor sent the invoices to Anderson, who had the authority to approve them for payment. Once Anderson approved the invoices, falsely indicating that the goods or services had been received, the airlines issued payments to Airborne Voice and Data. In exchange for approving each of the invoices, Anderson received a portion of the proceeds of the fraud. The defendants acknowledged that they received at least $36 million from the airlines during the scheme.
Yedor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the fraud after pleading guilty on October 20, 2014. Anderson has also pleaded guilty, and is scheduled to be sentenced this week. The full announcement from the U.S. Attorney in Atlanta about Yedor's sentencing can be found here on the FBI website.

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