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A man posing as an airline employee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Gilbert Myers Jr., 38, of Atlanta, admitted his role in an elaborate scam to defraud airlines. His guilty plea was part of an agreement with the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, where he conducted much of his business, according to the Associated Press.
The scam worked like this: Myers would pose as an airline employee to take advantage of the near-universal policies by most major airlines that reward their own employees with free travel and offer heavily discounted fares to employees of other airlines.
Myers would call an airline, acting as an employee of another carrier, and book a discounted ticket in the name of another person. Myers would give the airline booking agent a real name of one his "customers" but would give a fake employee identification number. Once the booking process was complete, Myers would then sell the deeply discounted ticket to his customers - typically charging, according to the AP, $2,000 for one year of unlimited flights.
Myers was arrested last year after an investigation by the FBI.
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