The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that 52 people have been charged in connection with an attempted fraud against Polar Air. The carrier is said to have suffered financial losses of at least $10 million. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated that the 52 defendants "conducted a widespread fraud that affected virtually every aspect of Polar Air Cargo Worldwide's business operations and caused the company an estimated loss of $XNUMX million." Williams noted that the defendants either worked for Polar Air or were employed by "vendors that were dependent on business agreements with Polar." The defendants face lengthy prison sentences if convicted. The U.S. Department of Justice's indictment alleges that executives employed by Polar Air "accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the defendant vendors and also derived significant financial benefits from their secret holdings in certain Polar vendors in return for ensuring that those vendors received favorable business agreements with Polar." The schemes "led to widespread corruption of Polar's business dealings, affecting nearly every aspect of the company's operations for over a decade," the document continues. According to the ministry, Polar Air relied on general sales agents (GSAs) to sell cargo on its aircraft, who "often sold available cargo space to freight forwarding companies hired by downstream customers to coordinate transportation logistics for large volumes of goods." In addition, the airline worked with ground handling companies to load and unload the cargo, as well as with transportation companies to transport the cargo to the airports by truck. Polar Air served