The man convicted of organizing a scheme to steal $36 million from Delta Air Lines and Northwest was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Michael Yedor, 62, of Los Angeles, must also pay restitution of more than $36 million, including forfeiture of his properties and luxury goods, including a Beverly Hills mansion and a 71.9-foot yacht, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates’ office said in a press release.
“The scope and magnitude of this fraudulent scheme is astounding,” Yates said. “The millions of dollars the defendants stole hurt the honest operations of an important company and its many customers, as well as other honest vendors who play by the rules.”
Yedor’s co-defendant, Paul Anderson, had been an employee of Northwest Airlines since 1979. In 2008, Delta Air Lines purchased Northwest, and the two airlines merged into a single company in December 2009. At that time, Anderson became a managerial employee of Delta, working in its Minneapolis, Minn., office, according to investigators.
From at least 1999 through 2013, Yedor and Anderson collaborated in submitting numerous false invoices on behalf of a company, Airborne Voice and Data, purportedly owned by Yedor, Yates said. The invoices sought payment from the airlines for goods provided and services rendered by Airborne Voice and Data, but both Anderson and Yedor knew the company had not provided any goods or services to the airlines.
Yedor submitted the invoices to Anderson, who approved them and issued fraudulent payments to Airborne Voice and Data, Yates said. Anderson then received a portion of the proceeds.
Yedor was indicted on June 10 and pleaded guilty on Oct. 20 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Anderson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud on Sept. 15. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23.
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