Former Zetta Jet Chief Faces 34 Charges in Singapore

The Singapore police recently announced that charges have been filed against Geoffery Owen Cassidy, the former managing director of aircraft charter company Zetta Jet and director of Asia Aviation Co., for alleged embezzlement and other criminal conduct that occurred between 2014 and 2017. In all, the police cite up to 34 alleged offenses that could result in decades of prison time. BJT was not able to immediately reach Cassidy for comment.

Charges include allegedly misappropriating more than S$11 million ($7.6 million) from Zetta Jet between 2016 and 2017; using more than S$1.4 million of the misappropriated funds for property-related expenditures; “cheating a company,” AirLNG, into delivering more than $400,000 to Asia Aviation on five occasions between April 2014 and May 2015; and having employees forge invoices and falsify accounts. If Cassidy is convicted, his punishment could include up to 10 years of imprisonment for each offense and/or fines.

In connection with the activities, the police charged June Tang Kim Choo, a director of Zetta Jet between 2015 and 2017, for allegedly “fail[ing] to use reasonable diligence in the discharge of the duties of her office, by authorizing payments totaling more than S$5 million without ascertaining whether the payments were for the company’s purposes.”

Singapore-based Zetta Jet went bankrupt in late 2017 after just a few years in operation. It had grown quickly with an owned fleet of Bombardier large-cabin jets and stretched internationally, including a U.S. subsidiary, Zetta Jet USA, that came with the merger of Advanced Air Management.

Zetta Jet PTE and its U.S.-based company had ousted Cassidy and hoped to save the business through U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but a district court denied the reorganization financing petition, forcing it into liquidation.

Company officials had filed a lawsuit against Cassidy for alleged "wrongful and illegal conduct." At the time, Cassidy had objected, maintaining he still was a majority owner of the company and calling bankruptcy avoidable and the situation unacceptable.