Overview
- New York Attorney General Letitia James announced indictments and arraignments of Irfan Syed, Beau Baer, Raymond Kayume and Joseph Puzzo on commercial bribery, money laundering, conspiracy and fraud charges.
- In the principal scheme, Syed and Baer allegedly paid about $8,000 per quarter from 2018 through early 2023, laundering roughly $375,000 through fake AGI invoices and providing Vegas and Atlantic City trips.
- Prosecutors say Kayume routed a 5% kickback from another vendor through sham checks to his firm, then split the proceeds with the Delta employee, and that the vendor agreed to forfeit $1 million.
- A third indictment alleges Puzzo arranged $2–$3 per gas canister in bribes via an intermediary that kept half and sent the rest through bogus rent checks for nonexistent office space.
- The four men pleaded not guilty before Queens Supreme Court Justice John Zoll; a fifth co‑conspirator is expected to be arraigned, potential sentences range up to 15 years for the top counts, and the probe includes the Port Authority and Homeland Security Investigations.