Fake aircraft parts: trader jailed who caused millions of pounds worth of damage

Part of these components are fitted to the CFM56 engines that power some Airbus aircraft such as the A320 SE and the Boeing 737, among the world's best-selling aircraft.

Among those defrauded would be the likes of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Ethiopian Airlines and Ryanair.

The engine manufacturer CFM International alone, controlled by GE Aerospace and Safran, suffered losses of around £3 million, in addition to 'reputational damage'. In total, the losses suffered by the operators were calculated at GBP 39.9 million.

Former director Zamora Yrala and AOG Technics were sued in the High Court in London by CFM International, GE and Safran in 2023, shortly after European regulators launched an investigation into reports that parts without valid certificates had been found on CFM56 engines.

The scandal exposed some of the mechanisms of the global spare parts trade, a highly regulated and safety-obsessed industry that also offers loopholes for falsifying documentation and selling parts at prices higher than their real value. The convicted man, of Venezuelan origin, had become an expert in this market after a stint as a dance music DJ in Venezuela.

From his flat in south London, he had set up and run his headquarters for a couple of years: from his home computer, the investigation found, he manipulated genuine Authorised Release Certificates (ARCs), the documentation guaranteeing airworthiness, by creating false shipping manifests to indicate that AOG had purchased parts directly from manufacturers.

Zamora also invented fake employees, with customers receiving emails and documents signed by a series of invented sales managers and quality managers as part of the creation of the illusion of a real business: on the contrary, what was ascertained was that only four were employees on the payroll, namely himself, his wife her brother and the nanny.

According to company records, Zamora Yrala founded AOG in 2015 in Hove, a quiet coastal town on the south coast of England. The company presented itself with a façade of respectability, boasting warehouses in the UK, Singapore, Frankfurt and Miami, all of course fake.