AeroVanti Shutters Amid Fraud Charges

The future of private aviation membership club AeroVanti remains uncertain amid reports that the company has largely shuttered operations. Various sources claim the company has not made payroll since June 6; left a long trail of unpaid bills that resulted in at least one aircraft being repossessed; is the target of an Federal Aviation Administration enforcement investigation that could produce criminal charges; and is the subject of civil litigation alleging fraud. The FAA investigation is believed to be focused on the fact that AeroVanti was operating under Part 91F when it should have been flying under more stringent Part 135 restrictions. 

Scott Hopes, recently appointed as the company’s CEO, also is under investigation for allegedly destroying public documents in his role as a Manatee County, Florida administrator, a position he left in February. Hopes has denied any wrongdoing. Aerovanti has not responded to requests for comment. 

In a civil suit filed on behalf of AeroVanti clients on May 22, plaintiff attorneys allege that the company engaged in widespread fraud, including running a network of “sham” companies designed to purposely defraud customers and “exaggerating the rapid growth of new members, the number of aircraft in its ‘fleet’, and the significant amount of investor-led funding received to support expansion.”

Detailed allegations include that at any given time no more than three AeroVanti aircraft were airworthy; $3 million obtained from 20 “Top Gun” program customers to acquire and refurbish five Piaggio Avanti P.180s was misdirected to professional sports sponsorships; and all five of these aircraft “have either since been repossessed or deemed not to be airworthy or in total disrepair.” The suit concludes that company founder Patrick Britton-Harr “developed an intricate web of deceit through the creation of interrelated entities that are each alter egos of one another.”