A United Airlines airplane takes off over another United plane on the runway at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco.
Jeff Chiu/AP Photo
United Airlines agreed to pay $49 million to resolve criminal and civil claims, the DOJ said.
The airline was accused of falsifying international delivery data from 2012 and 2015.
United received millions of dollars in payments based on the data, according to DOJ officials.
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United Airlines has agreed to pay about $49 million in penalties to resolve criminal charges and civil claims for supplying the US Postal Service with fraudulent data about international mail delivery, according to the Justice Department. DOJ officials said United employees submitted false international delivery scan data between 2012 and 2015, making it appear that United and its partner airlines were delivering the mail in a timely way. "Instead of performing this duty with transparency, United defrauded the US Postal Service by providing falsified parcel delivery information over a period of years and accepting millions of dollars of payments to which the company was not entitled," Nicholas L. McQuaid, acting assistant attorney general, said in a
statement. United entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ criminal division, agreeing to pay about $17 million in criminal penalties and returned payments, the DOJ said on Friday. The Chicago-based airline also settled a claim under the False Claims Act with the DOJ civil division, for which it will pay about $32 million.
