A federal jury in Maryland convicted an Annapolis man Thursday of wire fraud for using customer funds on personal expenses instead of private jets.
The Justice Department said Patrick Britton-Harr’s private club, AeroVanti, offered people access to flying on private jets through a Top Gun membership. That would let customers pay $150,000 toward the club buying a jet, leading to a discount on a block of flight hours.
The 100 or so Top Gun members raised $15 million, which was to be spent on five jets. Britton-Harr, 43, promised to buy the planes and protect the money by putting the titles for the planes in escrow, federal prosecutors said.
Britton-Harr then spent the money on his living expenses, yachts, jewelry and a Tampa, Florida, home that cost $10,000 a month to rent.
He also tried covering up his scheme by taking out a $1.5 million loan to buy an aircraft he told members he had already bought, the Justice Department said.
Britton-Harr was convicted on six counts of wire fraud. A sentencing date has not been set, but each count of wire fraud carries up to 20 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors also said Britton-Harr is accused in a separate case of committing multiple counts of healthcare fraud and a count of money laundering as part of a plan to bill Medicare for expensive respiratory tests. That case goes to trial in October.
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