Fort Lauderdale Platinum Jet officials and pilot indicted by federal government. legal news by West Palm Beach Injury litigators.
West Palm Beach, FL (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–A U.S. federal indictment of 5 Platinum Jet Management, LLC, executives and one pilot led to warrants for their arrests Wednesday morning according to the Associated Press (AP). The Fort Lauderdale, Florida based charter jet company is responsible for one of their Bombardier Challenger CL-600, corporate jets flying off the runway, crashing into two cars across a busy road, and smashing into a warehouse at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport on February 2, 2005. The plane engulfed in flames, injured the 11 passengers on the plane plus 9 other people, and resulted in 20 people requiring emergency hospital care.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) www.ntsb.gov investigators found the charter jet company regularly overloaded its planes with fuel which is a violation of federal regulations. The plane company also used pilots who were not properly certified according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors. Lawyers for the government are charging the defendants with conspiracy, fraud, endangering the safety of passengers and aircraft and making false statements to the NTSB.
New Jersey’s acting U.S. Attorney arrested four of the charged defendants and two of the warrants issued by the federal judge remain outstanding. The 23 count indictment handed down by the federal grand jury accuses the six men of concealing dangerous fueling and weight distribution practices. These acts are clear violation of federal laws. Attorneys for the federal government say planes flown on numerous occasions after filing false paperwork claiming the jets were 1,000 pounds lighter than their actual weight.
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