JetBlue Scam Duo Get 20-40 Months in Prison

Two men have been sentenced to prison for their role in a $10 million scam that targeted JetBlue Airways, a leading American airline based in New York.

Julien Levy, 39, of Englewood, New Jersey, and Keily Nunez, 44, of Jamaica, New York, were sentenced to 20 and 40 months in prison, respectively, for their involvement in honest services wire fraud. The scheme, which lasted from July 2017 to June 2021, involved bribery and manipulation of JetBlue’s purchasing processes to divert millions of dollars in contracts to entities controlled by the defendants.

The scam was uncovered by federal investigators, who discovered that Nunez, a former JetBlue employee, accepted bribes from Levy in exchange for approving invoices worth over $1.5 million. The scheme also involved the use of a deceased airline employee’s identity to circumvent JetBlue’s policies and procedures.

Nunez’s involvement in the scam is not his first brush with the law. In a separate scheme, he was previously sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for defrauding the United States Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program of approximately $1.5 million.

The sentencing of Levy and Nunez is a significant blow to those who seek to exploit their positions of power for personal gain. As United States Attorney Breon Peace noted, ‘Today’s sentence sends a clear message that those who betray the trust of their employers by disrupting marketplaces for their own personal gain will be held to account.’

The investigation and prosecution of the case were led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations. Department of Justice Trial Attorney Patrick J. Campbell and Assistant United States Attorney Nick Axelrod were responsible for the prosecution, with the support of Paralegal Specialist Liam McNett.

The defendants’ schemes have left a trail of destruction in their wake, with JetBlue Airways being duped out of millions of dollars. As Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo noted, ‘The defendants abused their positions of power to orchestrate a scheme that defrauded JetBlue Airways out of millions of dollars.’

The sentencing of Levy and Nunez serves as a reminder of the serious consequences of public corruption and the importance of holding those responsible accountable for their actions.