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A Louisa County-based aviation company that was contracted by Texas state government in 2023 to fly Latino migrants and asylum seekers to Illinois found itself targeted by the Trump Justice Department for submitting inflated invoices.
Zephyr Aviation, which is based in Mineral, and its owners Frederick Credno Jr. and Frederick W. Credno III, have agreed to pay $3.9 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting inflated invoices for aviation contracts to the Department of Homeland Security.
This settlement resolves allegations pertaining to contracts with DHS under which Zephyr chartered flights to transport people in the custody of Customs and Border Protection between 2022 and 2025.
According to the DOJ, Zephyr subcontracted with various aircraft operators to fly the required flights, and Zephyr submitted invoices to CBP purportedly based on the required flight times.
The DOJ alleged that Zephyr and its owners routinely submitted invoices to DHS that requested payment for flight hours that exceeded the actual flight times of the aircraft operators.
“Companies that do business with the government are expected to charge the United States accurately for the goods and services they provide,” said Brett A. Shumate, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department will continue to pursue those who knowingly overcharge the government at the expense of the American taxpayers.”
“With this settlement, we are sending a clear message that committing fraud in federal contracts will be met with significant sanctions against those defrauding the American taxpayer,” said Joseph V. Cuffari, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. “I commend our law enforcement partners and the Department of Justice’s Civil Fraud Section for tirelessly pursuing this investigation to hold these individuals accountable.”
A quick scan of the Google machine came up with Zephyr Aviation’s connection to the Texas migrant flights from 2023.
According to a report from a Chicago TV station, the Texas state government chartered two flights through Zephyr – one from El Paso, one from San Antonio – that cost Texas state taxpayers a total of $370,000.
The flights carried a total of 420 people from Texas to Illinois, as part of a political stunt engineered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to ship Latino migrants and asylum seekers to Democrat-run cities.
