United Will Pay $49 Million to Settle Air Mail Fraud Case

The Justice Department said United cooperated after getting requests from the department’s fraud section

United Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft as seen in Frankfurt Airport FRA towed and taxiing to depart for a transatlantic flight to the United States. The wide-body long haul airplane has the registration N226UA and is powered by 2x PW jet engines. UAL UA is a major American airline with headquarters in Chicago Illinois, it is the third-largest airline in the world with a fleet size of 803 planes and member of Star Alliance aviation group. The current plane was grounded after March 19, 2020 as the world passenger traffic declined during the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic era with the industry struggling to survive. Frankfurt, Germany on March 12, 2020
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

United Airlines will pay more than $49 million to avoid criminal prosecution and settle civil charges of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service in the delivery of international mail.

The Justice Department said Friday that former employees of United’s cargo division falsified parcel delivery information between 2012 and 2015. Prosecutors said that as a result, United collected millions of dollars in payments that it should not have received.

Chicago-based United agreed to pay nearly $17.3 million in criminal penalties and forfeited revenue to end the criminal investigation, and separately United will pay $32.2 million in related civil penalties, according to the Justice Department.

United did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

United and several other U.S. airlines trace their roots to air mail delivery contracts in the early part of the last century, and mail remains a source of revenue for them.

Copyright The Associated Press
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