【Epoch Times News, May 16, 2025】The federal court in the southern district of New York sentenced Skye Xu, the head of a cargo airline company, to two years in prison yesterday (15th) for his involvement in defrauding Polar Air Cargo, also known as Polar Air Cargo, of over $32 million. This case involved over a decade of commercial bribery and money laundering conspiracy, with three of the ten defendants being Chinese, revealing just a tip of the iceberg of corruption within the air cargo logistics industry.
The prosecution pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Skye Xu, the head of Sky X Airlines in California, paid approximately $4.4 million in bribes to three top executives at Polar in exchange for signing two highly-profitable cargo transportation contracts with Polar. This led to Sky X Airlines generating total revenue of around $46 million and a net profit of nearly $10 million, from transporting goods using unused cabin space of passenger airlines during the pandemic. The related funds were funneled through shell companies, adding an extra layer of concealment.
Federal prosecutor Clayton in the southern district of New York stated, “Polar executives used shell companies to cover up these kickbacks. The cost of such corrupt behavior far exceeds any losses to an individual company (it may spread throughout the entire industry, disrupt market competition, and damage the industry’s reputation). Today’s sentence once again reminds us that there is no place for commercial bribery in the United States.”
According to court documents and public information, senior executives at Polar colluded with several customers and suppliers from 2009 to 2021, misusing their authority to arrange contract terms and receive kickbacks, resulting in accumulated amounts exceeding $20 million. Polar suffered tens of millions of dollars in losses as a result, with corruption affecting various aspects of the company’s operations, penetrating almost every level of the company for over a decade.
There were a total of ten defendants in this case, all charged with offenses including fraud and money laundering. Skye Xu, aged 43, was the final convicted individual. Among the other defendants, Polar’s vice president, Abilash Kurien, was sentenced to 32 months in prison last December and ordered to surrender $7.2 million in illegal gains while compensating Polar with $23 million. Former Chief Operating Officer Lars Winkelbauer was sentenced to four years in prison in May last year.
In addition to the two-year prison sentence, Skye Xu was also ordered to forfeit $4,487,830 and pay $1.39 million in compensation to Polar.