Jald Jensen, a former BizJet regional sales manager, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) over efforts to win government aircraft-service contracts.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Jensen, 73, worked as a regional sales manager from 2004 through 2010 and was extradited from Panama in September 2026. Prosecutors said he and others conspired to direct business to BizJet, while separately concealing and routing payments to foreign officials. The indictment said funds passed through U.S. bank accounts and Avionica International & Associates Inc., a shell company Jensen owned.
The indictment placed the alleged scheme from about 2004 through March 2010 and described payments under labels such as commissions, incentives and referral fees. Filed in 2012 and unsealed in 2013, it charged Jensen in 11 counts involving FCPA and money-laundering offenses. The DOJ announcement identifies his guilty plea on the conspiracy count.
BizJet International Sales and Support Inc., a U.S.-based subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik AG, performed aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul work. Among its customers, the DOJ named the Panama Aviation Authority, along with the Mexican President’s air fleet, the Mexico Federal Police and the Governor of Sinaloa’s air fleet. The examples span executive aircraft, police aviation and a governor’s fleet, putting public-sector contracts at the center of the allegations.
BizJet resolved its own case in 2012 through a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay an $11.8 million criminal penalty. Lufthansa Technik, its indirect parent, entered a separate agreement with the DOJ.
Two former BizJet executives, Peter DuBois and Neal Uhl, pleaded guilty on Jan. 5, 2012, according to an earlier DOJ announcement. Bernd Kowalewski, BizJet’s former chief executive, pleaded guilty on July 24, 2014, the department said in a separate announcement.
Jensen’s conspiracy count carries a maximum prison term of five years. The DOJ said the court is expected to schedule sentencing in 2027 but has not announced a date.
