Media release: ANDREW KENT ANDERSON, 57, of Cartersville, Georgia has been indicted for wire fraud and conspiring to commit wire fraud. ANDERSON was arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Walter E. Johnson.
"The Federal Aviation Administration works diligently to ensure the safety of this country's airspace, and does so, in part, by ensuring that modifications to aircraft are certified as safe," said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. "Andrew Anderson is charged with bypassing the certification process by providing false and fraudulent FAA certifications to his clients who sought his assistance with obtaining legitimate FAA certifications."
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: ANDERSON, an aviation consultant, was hired to assist his clients in obtaining Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for certain modifications they wanted to make to several airplanes, including one Boeing 747 and two Avro jets. The planes are owned and operated by the Dubai Air Wing (DAW), an agency of the government of Dubai.
The indictment charges that ANDERSON provided his clients and DAW officials with certificates for the planes purportedly issued by the FAA but which, in fact, were never issued by that agency. ANDERSON is charged with defrauding his clients of more than $630,000, which they paid him to assist in obtaining legitimate FAA certificates. The fraud allegedly occurred between April 2008 and June 2010. ANDERSON was indicted by a federal grand jury on December 20, 2011.
He is charged with nine counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.
ANDERSON is charged with conspiring with TOD ANDERSON, 54, of Portage, Michigan. TOD ANDERSON pleaded guilty to a criminal information on December 14, 2011. The criminal information charged TOD ANDERSON with conspiring to commit wire fraud in relation to the certificates provided for the Boeing 747 aircraft. That charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
TOD ANDERSON is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Robert L. Vining, Jr. on February 23, 2012, at 10:00 a.m.
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