The official court documents tell it all
On Tuesday, the US Attorney's Office in the District of New Jersey released a detailed statement on the case. US Attorney Caroline Sadlowski announced that three men have pleaded guilty in connection with a bribery and fraud investigation pertaining to business at Newark Liberty International Airport. The attorney added:
"The defendants exploited their positions within their respective companies to enrich themselves while defrauding others.
Defendants' commercial bribery and fraud corrupts the fairness of our economic system. We will hold to account those who break the law to line their own pockets."
Over eight years from 2014 to 2022, Dolphin influenced which companies were awarded lucrative United Airlines' contracts.
Between 2014 and 2017, Dolphin was an Airport Operations Hub Vendor Manager, and from 2017 to 2022, he was the Manager of Hub Business Partners.
A long and lucrative trail of corruption at United
Two other defendants, James Wajda of Cement City, Michigan, and Ronald Delucia of Wayne, New Jersey, also pleaded guilty to their roles in the corruption conspiracy.
These were senior employees of the companies that conspired with Dolphin and received the contracts for work at Newark Liberty International. The $1.6 million Dolphin admitted to receiving consisted of:
In a separate scheme, Delucia conspired with Wajda, the COO of a Des Plaines, Illinois-based company that provided cabin cleaning services to United Airlines and loaded food and other items onto planes.
The two drew up fraudulent invoices to make it appear as if Wajda's company subcontracted with Delucia's firm to dispatch trucks that loaded supplies onto planes, although no services were ever rendered.
Delucia then kicked back a portion of the fraudulently obtained money to Wajda through his personal limited liability company.
Delucia's company invoiced Wajda's company $150,000 for services that were not supplied, and, in turn, Wadja received approximately $38,000 from this scheme.
More United employees involved
These three have pleaded guilty to receiving bribes and kickbacks from Delucia's company in exchange for helping it win lucrative contracts.
In September 2021, Delucia's company bid on a contract to renovate restrooms at Newark, and those three sat on the selection committee and each of them voted to award the $19.7 million contract to Delucia's company.
In exchange, and with the expectation that they would use their positions to help the company gain future contracts, Delucia's company agreed to pay for significant renovations at their personal residences, including renovating and building bathrooms, renovating a deck, installing floors and sheetrock and renovating a kitchen.
"We are grateful for the partnership of the US Attorney's Office and the FBI as we root out fraud, hold bad actors accountable, and protect the integrity of the systems that keep our region moving."
Dolphin, Wajda, and Delucia each face a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.
Dolphin and Wajda will be sentenced on June 24, 2025, while Delucia will learn his fate on July 1, 2025.
