Former Airline Sales Agent Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 29 Months in Prison for Fake Ticket Voucher Ponzi Scheme

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that VICTORIA SCARDIGNO, a former sales agent for Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, was sentenced today to 29 months in prison for her participation in a $1 million Ponzi scheme involving the sale of hundreds of fake airline ticket vouchers. SCARDIGNO, 33, of Weehawken, New Jersey, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge JOHN G. KOELTL.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “Victoria Scardigno sold unsuspecting travelers fake tickets for trips about the world. With today’s sentence, now the only trip she will take is to prison.”

According to the indictment and other court documents, as well as statements made during proceedings in the case:

While employed at Continental Airlines, SCARDIGNO misappropriated from its offices hundreds of vouchers that were used to compensate customers for flight delays, cancellations, or situations in which passengers were denied boarding. She then sold the vouchers to prospective passengers, on the fraudulent pretext that they could be redeemed for round-trip tickets to anywhere in the world. Continental offered no such voucher program, and SCARDIGNO’s representations that the vouchers could be redeemed for air travel were false. She sold over 2,100 such vouchers at a purchase price of approximately $500 to $600.

When passengers attempted to redeem their vouchers, SCARDIGNO used some of the fraud proceeds to purchase tickets for them, in order to keep the fraudulent scheme going. Since the cost of the tickets far exceeded the cost of the vouchers, most of the passengers were unable to redeem their vouchers. SCARDIGNO took in approximately $1 million from the fraud, which she deposited directly into her personal bank account. She used some of the illicit proceeds to pay off personal debts and to purchase thousands of dollars of luxury goods from stores such as Louis Vuitton and Coach.

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In addition to the prison term, Judge KOELTL sentenced SCARDIGNO to three years’ supervised release and ordered her to forfeit $100,000 in proceeds of her crime.

Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI. He also thanked the Corporate Security department of Continental Airlines for their assistance

This matter is being handled by the office’s Complex Frauds Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney ANTONIA M. APPS is in charge of the prosecution.