Aman Khan of Riverside was sentenced to four years in federal prison and $1.5 million in restitution Sept. 26 for selling airplane parts to NATO, NASA and other companies with falsified documents.
He had pleaded guilty to the crime June 6.
“By selling fraudulent and unapproved parts to companies in the aircraft industry, defendant caused the risk that his parts would be installed on commercial and military aircraft instead of genuine aircraft parts. In so doing, defendant consciously and recklessly caused a risk of death or serious bodily injury to aircraft passengers and to the general public.”
from the plea agreement
It’s Khan’s, 73, second sentence for aircraft parts sales fraud. In 2005, he was sentenced to 15 and a half years for both falsely certifying aircraft parts and selling military jet fighter parts to China.
He started a new company shortly after his release in 2016 selling parts with falsified documents that claimed they were tested and approved to Federal Aviation Administration standards, according to the affidavit. He falsified inspectors’ signatures, and said the parts he manufactured were actually manufactured by other companies.
“By selling fraudulent and unapproved parts to companies in the aircraft industry, defendant caused the risk that his parts would be installed on commercial and military aircraft instead of genuine aircraft parts. In so doing, defendant consciously and recklessly caused a risk of death or serious bodily injury to aircraft passengers and to the general public,” his plea agreement reads.
Khan committed the fraud through his company, California Aircraft and Avionics Corp., whose office was across the freeway from Riverside’s California Baptist University.
CAAC sold jet engine wheels with falsified test results to NASA, through a third party, according to the affidavit.
He also fraudulently sold 68 turbine gas nozzles, for $80,000, to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also through a third party.
Due to his earlier crime, he was excluded from receiving government contracts until 2052, according to the affidavit against him.
CAAC defrauded one company out of $1.2 million, the company later told the FBI.
CAAC’s former vice president and co-owner, who was not identified, cooperated as a witness in the investigation, according to the affidavit. The vice president had previously been sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud, and met Khan at a halfway house after both had been released from prison. The vice president contacted the Department of Commerce after learning that Khan was barred from selling to the government, the affidavit said.
CAAC’s customers had also filed claims directly to the FBI about the company’s fraudulent sales, the affidavit said.
Khan pleaded guilty 14 days after his arrest, according to his sentencing memorandum.
Case information
Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin Lichtman and Jonathan Galatzan represented the United States.
Deputy Public Defender Young Kim represented Khan.
California Central District Judge R. Gary Klausner presided.
Case No. 5:22-cr-00123.
Read the affidavit here.
Read the plea agreement here.
