 In early 1992, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and USDOT were informed that Spencer was secretly being paid by Braniff, and that the airline's corporate officers were engaging in a money laundering scheme designed to conceal this from the airline's creditors, the bankruptcy court, and the USDOT, which had secured the earlier affidavits promising Spencer's non-involvement in the company's corporate affairs.Chodorow submitted another affidavit claiming that the pledges made in the May 1991 affidavits had not been violated.Investigators eventually determined that Spencer had been "heavily involved" in the operations of the airline, and had been paid $351,411 in secret kickbacks from commissions paid to an advertising agency owned by Stephen Pliss, who was granted immunity in return for his testimony against Spencer.