AeroVanti founder Patrick Britton-Harr faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of six wire fraud counts.
AeroVanti founder Patrick Britton-Harr (pictured with his father, former chief pilot of the private jet company) has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on six counts of wire fraud related to its Top Gun membership program.
A copy of the full indictment can be downloaded at the bottom of this story.
The indictment, unsealed earlier today, follows a default judgment last year, totaling over $26 million, against Britton-Harr and multiple laboratory companies owned by him for violations of the False Claims Act.
They stated that Britton-Harr offered Covid-19 tests to nursing homes as a way to bill Medicare “for a wide array of medically unnecessary respiratory pathogen panel tests.”
The complaint alleged that the tests were not medically necessary because the beneficiaries had no symptoms of a respiratory illness and because the tests were for uncommon respiratory pathogens.
The DOJ alleged Britton-Harr used his fraudulent gains to launch AeroVanti in 2021.
One source tells Private Jet Card Comparisons Britton-Harr was arraigned in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier today.
They are the first criminal charges related to AeroVanti following a slew of civil lawsuits against Britton-Harr and the Maryland- and Florida-based private aviation company.
A former executive estimated in 2023 that the company had racked up as much as $50 million in liabilities.
A follow-up hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Today’s indictment related to AeroVanti alleged:
‘From approximately November 2021 through January 2022, Britton-Harr, acting on behalf of AeroVanti, entered into lease-purchase agreements for five Piaggio-manufactured aircraft bearing Federal Aviation Administration tail numbers N2444Z, N290BC, NlllVR, Nl89LW, and Nl037W. Beginning in approximately March 2022, Britton-Harr created a class of AeroVanti customers known as Top Gun members. This new group of Top Gun members agreed to pay approximately $150,000 in exchange for certain benefits, including 100 pre-paid flight hours. Top Gun members were organized into five limited liability companies of approximately twenty individual members, or unitholders, per LLC. Each LLC was created to finance AeroVanti’s debt-free purchase of one of the five aircraft of this Indictment on AeroVanti’s behalf. Each LLC was named according to the FAA tail number of the aircraft it was created to purchase. The LLCs were each registered in Maryland between approximately March 2022 and August 2022 and were named as follows: 44Z, LLC; 90BC, LLC; Nl 89LW, LLC; Nl 11 YR, LLC; and N1037W, LLC. The registered agent for each LLC was a Top Gun unitholder known hereafter as Individual- I.’
The allegations continue, “From at least November 2021 through at least October 2023, in District of Maryland, and elsewhere, the defendant, Patrick Tormay Britton-Harr knowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud Top Gun unitholders, to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and transmitted and caused to be transmitted by means of wire communications in interstate commerce, writings, signals, pictures and sounds for purpose of executing such scheme and artifice to defraud.”
The DOJ filing also alleged:
‘It was further part of the scheme to defraud that Britton-Harr caused Individual-I and a second individual, known as Individual-2, to recruit members into AeroVanti’s Top Gun program through material misrepresentations and omissions of material facts. Specifically, Britton-Harr misled Individual-I and Individual-2 into falsely believing that Top Gun members’ money would be used to purchase specific aircraft, and that the LLCs, into which they and their money would be organized, would temporarily hold title to the aircraft as security for their pre-payment of flight hours. Britton-Harr then caused Individual-I and Individual-2 to recruit potential Top Gun members based on this false belief.’
In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland stated, “Britton-Harr recruited nearly 100 Top Gun members, who collectively paid approximately $15 million in upfront payments, to purchase five aircraft. Instead of buying the aircraft, Britton-Harr allegedly misappropriated members’ money for his own personal benefit, including paying for yachts and jewelry, his living expenses, and to rent a property near Tampa, Florida. Then Britton-Harr attempted to conceal his fraud by obtaining a $1.5-million loan to purchase one of the aircraft he already claimed that he purchased with Top Gun funds by withholding material information from the lender to obtain the loan.”
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, wrote, “Britton-Harr showed a total disregard for those who depend on our Medicare system for health care services and for the individuals he scammed through his private-jet company.”
Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, added, “The defendant allegedly perpetrated two fraud schemes, first exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud Medicare out of millions of dollars and then stealing millions more from customers of his aviation company, all for his personal benefit.”
Special Agent in Charge Greg Thompson, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, said, “The scope of the alleged fraud is staggering and underscores the extraordinary lengths to which individuals will go to deceive and exploit others under the guise of legitimate business, including private aviation services.”
Britton-Harr is charged with six counts of wire fraud in the indictment connected to the AeroVanti scheme.
In another indictment unsealed today, Britton-Harr is charged with five counts of healthcare fraud and one count of money laundering, as related to his RPP scheme.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count and 10 years in prison for each health care fraud and money laundering count.
A federal district court judge determines sentencing after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
READ: Caveat Emptor: Avoiding private jet scams, bankruptcies, and shutdowns
Earlier this month, Britton-Harr was still pitching private jet flights to former members.
Britton-Harr announced his return to the space late last year.
At the time, he claimed money was protected via a third-party processor called BrixleyXchange.
A phone number on the BrixleyXchange website, since removed, was connected to Troy Britton-Harr.
Last month, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a $3.4 million judgment against AeroVanti for unpaid sponsorship fees.
DOWNLOAD: Britton-Harr AeroVanti Indictment May 2025
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