$54M fake plane parts scheme lands former DJ in prison | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

In a scheme that could surely kick off the plot of a movie, a former DJ who ran a fraudulent airplane engine parts company worth tens of millions of dollars was sentenced to four years and eight months of prison time in the United Kingdom.

José Alejandro Zamora Yrala, a resident of Surrey outside of London, had once worked as a local techno DJ before founding AOG Technics, which he advertised as an airplane parts resale company, in 2019.

An investigation by the Serious Fraud Office agency in the British government later discovered that between 2019 and 2023, Yrala had resold more than 60,000 seals, bolts, and washers — used in the CFM56 engine powering the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 — without authorization or guarantees of authenticity.

AOG Technics plane parts fraud led to safety alerts, groundings, criminal case

Airlines such as Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Ryanair, and Ethiopian Airlines purchased plane parts from AOG Technics with a value totaling more than £40 million ($54 million USD).

The fraudulent operation began to unravel in 2023, according to a Serious Fraud Office press release. It seems that one of the airlines contacted the manufacturer to check the authenticity of one of the parts and discovered that it had been resold.

Yrala had been using his home computer to manufacture fake certificates of authenticity and delivery records, The Guardian first reported. He also maintained the appearance of a genuine company by listing nonexistent employees on a website and sending emails from addresses impersonating quality managers.

As the scheme came to light, agencies including the FAA in the U.S. and Civil Aviation Authority in the U.K. issued safety alerts, as planes in different parts of the world were grounded pending inspection of the parts, Reuters reported.

“Safran identified the certificate as a fake and alerted authorities, leading to the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority, the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency issuing safety alerts in relation to all AOG Technics parts,” the Serious Fraud Office wrote in a note on the initial investigation.

AOG Technics sold fraudulent components of the CFM56 Engine used in several major plane models.

Safran

AOG Technics director and former DJ “risked public safety on a global scale,” investigator says

The investigation found that Yrala sold more than 60,000 parts worth approximately £6.9 million ($8.10 million USD) in a total fraud operation that caused airlines more than £40 million in losses over having to ground planes, conduct investigations, and repurchase the needed parts.

Yrala pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in December 2025 and was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison on Feb. 23.

Travel News:

His counsel, criminal defense attorney Nicola Howard KC of 25 Bedford Row, had previously classified Yrala’s actions as him having “cut corners” to sell parts.

“Your offending involved a more or less complete undermining of a regulatory framework designed to safeguard the millions of people who fly every day of the year,” British High Court Justice Simon Picken said in his ruling, cited by Reuters.

Director of Operations Emma Luxton also, in the Serious Fraud Office press release, classified Yrala’s actions as ones that “risked public safety on a global scale.”