AeroVanti’s Britton-Harr convicted of $15m fraud targeting Private Jet Club members
Britton-Harr faces a maximum of 20 years in prison per count.
A federal jury in Maryland has convicted Patrick Britton-Harr, 43, of Annapolis, on six counts of wire fraud for defrauding customers of his private aviation club out of approximately $15m in upfront membership payments.
Britton-Harr owned and controlled AeroVanti, a private air club offering members access to flights on private jets. He solicited so-called ‘Top Gun’ members, inviting them to pay $150,000 each to help the company purchase aircraft in exchange for a block of discounted flight hours. He promised the funds would be used to buy specific planes and that members’ money would be protected by placing aircraft titles into escrow.
Instead, the Top Gun members, who collectively paid around $15m intended to purchase five aircraft, never received the planes or their promised flight hours. Britton-Harr misappropriated the funds for personal use, spending the money on yachts, expensive jewellery, living expenses, and a $10,000-per-month rental home near Tampa, Florida.
To conceal the fraud, he obtained a $1.5m loan to purchase one of the aircraft he had already told members he had bought with their funds, withholding material information from the lender in the process.
“He used his business as a front to fraudulently induce his clients to make down payments for services never provided. Meanwhile, he bought yachts, expensive jewelry, and lined his own pockets,” said assistant attorney general A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Through his greed and deceitful actions, Mr. Britton-Harr showed a total disregard for the law and others,” added U.S. attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland.
Jimmy Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office, said the conviction “holds Patrick Britton-Harr accountable for the lies he told and the millions of dollars he stole from customers to bankroll his extravagant lifestyle.”
Britton-Harr faces a maximum of 20 years in prison per count. A sentencing date has not yet been set. He is separately facing trial in October 2026 on an unrelated indictment filed in May 2025, which charges him with multiple counts of healthcare fraud and one count of money laundering related to an alleged scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for expensive respiratory tests.
The case was investigated by the FBI Baltimore Field Office and the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General.
