Yes , these are known pnc supporters who tried to take their bad habits to the US.

quote:

Originally posted by BGurd_See:
Yes , these are known pnc supporters who tried to take their bad habits to the US.

Stop Lying

This is the chap that was involved with the PPP purchase of the helicopters not too long ago

quote:

Originally posted by Pointblank:
This is the chap that was involved with the PPP purchase of the helicopters not too long ago

Or is it their father? By the way, the PPP Govt spent $$Milions to buy those useless old helicopters. The helicopters are now discarded.

Former charter company execs sentenced in Teterboro jet crash

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Last updated: Tuesday September 20, 2011, 7:45 PM

BY PETER J. SAMPSON

STAFF WRITER

The Record



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Two Florida men who ran a luxury charter jet service that catered to the rich and famous were sentenced Tuesday to 1½ and 2½ years in prison by a judge who said he did not believe regulatory violations caused a plane to barrel off a runway at Teterboro Airport in 2005.



RECORD FILE PHOTO

The jet plowed through a steel perimeter fence and struck two cars as it crossed six lanes of Route 46 before crashing into a clothing warehouse and bursting into flames in February 2005.

“I’m just not satisfied from the evidence I heard that the conduct alleged caused the plane to crash,” U.S. District Judge Dennis M Cavanaugh told a packed courtroom in Newark as he sentenced Guyana-born brothers Michael and Paul Brassington, executives and co-founders of the now-defunct Platinum Jet Management LLC of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Ruling that the applicable sentencing guidelines overstated the seriousness of their offenses, the judge rejected a range of about 12½ to nearly 16 years for Michael Brassington, 37, and instead imposed a 2½-year term.

Similarly, Cavanaugh said the eight- to 10-year range for Paul Brassington, 32, was inappropriate and sentenced him to 1½ years.

The judge also waived fines, citing the Brassingtons’ inability to pay, and declined to order them to pay restitution of $4.4 million, the sum their company made in the years leading up to the crash. Defense lawyers argued that passengers got the services they paid for.

Unable to lift off, the Bombardier Challenger 600 jet plowed through a steel perimeter fence and struck two cars as it crossed six lanes of Route 46 before crashing into a clothing warehouse in the Feb. 2, 2005, incident. Both pilots and two passengers in a car were seriously injured.

The Brassingtons, both of whom live in Fort Lauderdale, apologized to the victims of the crash, which injured more than a dozen people in all, and said they never intended to put anyone in harm’s way.

The brothers were convicted after a monthlong trial last November by a jury that found they put profits ahead of safety in a scheme to overload jets with cheap fuel.

Prosecutors portrayed Michael Brassington, Platinum Jet’s president, chief operating officer and chief pilot, as the architect of a scheme to defraud passengers, charter brokers, the Federal Aviation Administration and others by misrepresenting his company’s compliance with safety regulations.

He was found guilty on the most serious charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight. He was also convicted of lying in a National Transportation Safety Board accident report and six counts of making false statements in FAA paperwork to conceal the fact that unqualified and under-rested pilots were flying charter flights.

He and his younger brother, a vice president in charge of sales and marketing, were also found guilty of the overarching conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to defraud the FAA.

The Brassingtons founded Platinum Jet in 2002 and built a celebrity-studded clientele that included Luciano Pavarotti, Joe Montana, Burt Reynolds, Duran Duran, Keith Richards, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O’Neal, Jon Bon Jovi, and Jay-Z. among others. Some paid as much as $85,000 per flight.

The charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft related to Michael Brassington’s concealment of dangerous over-fueling and weight distribution practices that caused the jet’s center of gravity to exceed its forward weight limit for takeoff, contributing to the Feb. 2, 2005, Teterboro crash, according to NTSB investigators.

Cavanaugh, however, rejected that finding, saying he agreed with the conclusion of a defense expert who testified that the crash was more likely caused by a mechanical failure.

“I recognize the issue was serious, but I don’t find evidence that what they did caused this tragic crash,” the judge said.

The brothers maintained they were unfairly targeted in a criminal prosecution when, at most, the case should have been handled administratively by the FAA.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott McBride countered that the violations were potentially deadly.

Among the letters sent to the judge was one from Julian Geiger, chairman of Aéropostale, Inc. the apparel retailer, who was a passenger on many of the illegally piloted and over-fueled flights and testified at trial.

“Knowing the sad fate of N370V, a plane on which every member of my family flew many times, underscores that only luck prevented us from being part of a disaster,” Geiger wrote. “I am outraged that we were unknowingly subjected to potentially deadly risks caused by the reckless greed of a company that clearly violated its proprietary and fiduciary duty to its customers.”

Passengers on board the ill-fated flight also wrote of continued anxiety and fear of flying, citing panic attacks, nightmares and medical care for post-traumatic stress syndrome.

E-mail: sampson@northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/new...rboro_jet_crash.html