4 Long Islanders accused in alleged bribery, money laundering scheme involving Delta employee at JFK Airport

Four Long Islanders have been accused in a yearslong bribery and money laundering scheme that included cash handoffs to a Delta Air Lines employee at Kennedy Airport, according to multiple indictments.

Beau Baer, of Levittown, Raymond Kayume and Joseph Puzzo, both of East Northport, and Irfan Syed, of Lloyd Harbor, along with a fifth co-conspirator whose identity has been redacted from the indictments, embarked on a pay-to-play scheme, prosecutors said.

Syed, the CEO of two companies that provide "security for various airlines and their cargo departments" at Kennedy AIrport, and the unnamed co-conspirator, an executive for a firm that "manages and provides workers for Delta’s cargo department at JFK," agreed to pay a Delta employee around $8,000 each quarter in exchange for contracted work with the airline, according to a news release from New York Attorney General Letitia James announcing the indictments. These payments occurred from January 2018 through January 2023.

Baer, an employee of Syed's, would typically hand the "influential, high-level" Delta employee cash payments at Kennedy Airport, according to one of the indictments. Syed would provide the Delta employee his quarterly earnings when they flew with Baer and the unnamed co-conspirator to Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Miami. The co-conspirators covered the Delta employees' meals and other expenses on these getaways. Syed and the redacted individual wrote phony quarterly invoices, obscuring the alleged bribe money as legitimate business expenses, the indictments allege.

The investigation revealed a separate bribery scheme, in which Kayume allegedly "laundered bribe payments to the same Delta employee" on behalf of "another corporate vendor in the cargo industry," according to James’ release. The vendor provided a 5% kickback to the Delta employee on all business with the airline through checks written to Kayume’s company, Kennedy Advanced Professional Services. Kayume split those checks between himself and the Delta employee.

The investigation, conducted by the Office of the Attorney General and the Port Authority, revealed a third bribery scheme, according to James. Puzzo, a manager of a company that provides compressed gas canisters to power forklifts to move cargo, paid an intermediary company $2 to $3 for every gas canister sold to Delta obscured as fraudulent consulting fees. Half that money went to the same Delta employee, according to the release.

Baer and Syed pleaded not guilty before Queens County Supreme Court Judge John Zoll to fourth-degree conspiracy, sixth-degree conspiracy, second-degree money laundering, first-degree scheme to defraud and second-degree commercial bribing, according to James’ office. Syed also pleaded not guilty to first-degree falsifying business records.

Kayume pleaded not guilty before Zoll to fourth-degree money laundering, first-degree scheme to defraud and first-degree falsifying business records.

Puzzo pleaded not guilty before Zoll to fourth-degree money laundering, first-degree scheme to defraud and first-degree falsifying business records.

Defense attorneys representing Baer and Puzzo did not immediately respond to Newsday’s requests for comment. Syed was represented at his arraignment by a court-appointed public defender, according to Grant Fox, the deputy press secretary for the attorney general’s office.

The fifth, unnamed co-conspirator was charged with fourth-degree conspiracy, sixth-degree conspiracy, second-degree money laundering, first-degree scheme to defraud, second-degree commercial bribing and first-degree falsifying business records. They were not arraigned on Wednesday, Fox told Newsday. Information regarding their arraignment was not immediately available.

Kayume’s defense attorney, Edward Sapone, described him as "a 52-year-old man who before this morning had never been arrested."

"He's been married for 23 years and he’s raising three boys ages 7, 17 and 18," Sapone continued. "He’s a good man and I am confident that this case will be worked out justly and fairly."

The vendor who allegedly laundered bribe payments through Kayume’s business agreed to forfeit $1 million of proceeds, according to the attorney general’s office.

Delta Airlines did not immediately respond to Newsday’s request for comment late Wednesday.