November 3, 2024
Two companies selling jet cards look like they have turned off the lights, at least in terms of having active websites. Ascension Air, an Atlanta-based operator selling shares and jet cards, which is under fire from upset customers, has seen its website offline for more than a week. At the same time, JetCard Plus, a Miami-based broker of jet cards no longer appears to have a working website. Bloomberg reports on May 14 a Florida court ordered JetCard Plus Inc. of Miami to pay $219,692 to Steven T. Mnuchin Inc. Google indicates its office location closed and its phone number is no longer active.
According to the Treasury Secretary’s lawsuit, he signed a contract to terminate his membership in September 2018, and his money was supposed to be refunded by October 1, 2018, however, it never arrived. Neither JetCard Plus or Ascension Air was part of the Private Jet Card Comparisons database which requires providing background about company, ownership, and executives.
A quick Google search of JetCard Plus CEO Paul Svensen shows a history of litigation and online complaints. In March 2009, Aviation International News reported, “The U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida, issued an order late last month holding Jet Network FC Holdings (JNFC), JetCard Plus and JetCard CEO Paul Svensen in contempt of court for allegedly violating a December 8 court order to submit documents and information about Svensen’s former employer, Jet Network LLC.”
It said in 2007 Florida’s Secretary of State administratively dissolved Jet Network LLC in 2007 and the IRS seized a majority the company’s assets.
Ascension Air is currently the subject of at least one lawsuit from a former fractional owner. Several customers say the company did not list them as owners of fractional aircraft in which they had purchased shares and they are due money after the planes were sold. According to the lawsuit, the planes which Ascension listed itself as sole owner, were then used as collateral to secure loans.
Ascension had been operating a fleet of Cirrus SR22s and Eclipse 550s from Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale. Its CEO Jamail Larkins was named as a rising star in business aviation.
Both Svensen’s and Larkins’ LinkedIn profiles show them as currently run each company, respectively. The last JetCard Plus postings on social media date back to August 2018.
Read: How not to get burned when you buy a private jet membership
Both JetCard Plus and Ascension Air were adept in using PR to help sell customers.
On its LinkedIn page, JetCard Plus boasts, “Mr. Svensen has appeared on CNBC, CBS MarketWatch, ABC News, Good Morning America, CNN Radio and several dozen other local media outlets over the last 10 years discussing the evolution of the “Jet Card” business model. He has also been interviewed numerous times by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and over 50 other publications for his research on the executive business jet marketplace.” It cites winning Robb Report’s Best of the Best in 2008.
For his part, Larkins was written up by Inc. magazine as a rising star and it touted Ascension Air on its Inc 5000 list. He was also named as a spokesperson by the Federal Aviation Administration for its Young Eagles program and made it into a number of national media.
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