New York Federal Court in the southern district of New York sentenced Benjamin Wei, a Chinese freight forwarder, on Wednesday (August 6) for his involvement in a kickback and fraud scheme that lasted over a decade. Wei was sentenced to one year of probation, 200 hours of community service, forfeiture of $4 million, and ordered to compensate over $3.57 million to the victim company Polar Air Cargo Worldwide.
According to the judgment, Wei pleaded guilty to three charges in the superseding indictment, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services fraud, substantive wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Polar is a joint venture established in New York in 2007 by Atlas Air (51% stake) and DHL Express (49% stake), specializing in scheduled cargo routes covering North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
One of the objectives of establishing Polar was to provide exclusive cargo space on flights for express companies like DHL to ensure reliable and timely delivery of packages. The remaining cargo space is sold through General Sales Agents (GSAs), and other freight forwarders must book through designated GSAs.
The prosecution pointed out that from 2004 to July 2021, Wei and nine co-defendants participated in a massive kickback scheme, using their relationships with senior Polar executives to defraud the company of tens of millions of dollars in revenue and undermine employees’ honest services.
Several Polar executives manipulated cooperation terms with freight forwarders, ground service suppliers, and others, privately receiving cash kickbacks, hidden stock dividends, or other benefits, affecting almost every aspect of the company’s operations.
Through his freight forwarder company Vizion and General Sales Agent (GSA) company Griffin Cargo, Wei paid various forms of kickbacks to senior Polar executives in exchange for discounted freight rates, commission rates, and business referrals. These kickbacks included fees paid based on the weight of goods, a certain percentage of revenue generated through cooperation with Polar, and even transferring funds through signing fictitious consultancy agreements with overseas shell companies.
Additionally, some Polar executives concealed their ownership stakes in companies contracting with Polar, deriving benefits from Polar’s contracts. These contracts, recommended and renewed by executives with conflicts of interest, generated income primarily from Polar. This long-running fraudulent behavior resulted in widespread corruption in Polar’s operations, impacting almost every aspect of the company and continuing for over a decade.
The prosecution estimated that six Polar executives involved in the scheme collectively received over $23 million in illegal gains, causing Polar to suffer at least $29 million in losses, of which approximately $3.57 million was directly related to Wei’s business, and Wei paid a total of about $4 million in kickbacks.
Wei was arrested in April 2023 and began cooperating with the government’s investigation from September that year, pleading guilty in October of the same year under a cooperation agreement. According to sentencing recommendations, he could have faced 51 to 63 months of imprisonment, but due to his full cooperation with the investigation, he received a reduced sentence.
In a letter to the judge, Wei admitted to succumbing to greed and accepting “deals” arranged by senior Polar executives, gradually becoming dependent on Polar’s business over time and failing to disengage promptly. He stated that he lost his professional reputation, trust of long-time business partners and friends, and accumulated over $500,000 in loans to sustain his company’s operations, highlighting the deepest pain of bringing shame to his family.
Wei emphasized that he will spend the rest of his life making amends for his mistakes through honest work and serving others, expressing “deep remorse” for his actions.