Private plane allegedly co-owned by Avenatti seized by Feds

The US DOJ Central District of California seized a six-seat Honda HA-420 twin-engine jet Wednesday they claim is owned by a company co-owned by Michael Avenatti.

It is estimated to be worth $4.5 million.

Readers of Frank Report recently got a near glimpse of Avenatti when it was revealed he was representing Clare Bronfman in her criminal racketeering case.

Frank Report learned he was also retained by the litigious heiress to represent her in a civil lawsuit against this writer in Western New York.

Bronfman fainted (or, as some claim, pretended to faint) dead away last month at a Curcio hearing about potential attorney conflicts of interest when US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis asked her if Avenatti was one of her undisclosed lawyers in her federal criminal case in the Eastern District of New York.

It was revealed in that court hearing that Avenatti and Geragos met with Deputy US Attorney Mark Lesko in the Eastern District of New York, where Bronfman is facing trial next month, to negotiate a Third Party Cooperation agreement with the DOJ.

A Third Party Cooperation agreement is an arrangement where a criminal defendant in one case provides information helpful to the prosecution in another case or evidence of criminality in an unrelated matter in return for a more lenient plea deal or other considerations.

It has been thought that Avenatti and Geragos were offering information about potential crimes committed by Nike officials in return for a better deal for Bronfman.

The meeting with the DOJ occurred one week prior to Avenatti’s arrest on a criminal complaint (not an indictment) by the Southern District of NY.

Avenatti’s jet was seized at the Santa Barbara Airport about 10 a.m. today after a federal judge issued a warrant.  The seizure is related to a pending criminal case in Los Angeles where Avenatti is accused of wire and bank fraud, allegedly defrauding a bank and a client and not Avenatti’s Nike-related extortion charges in the Southern District of New York.

 

MK10ART’s painting of Clare Bronfman fainting in court.

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused him of attempting to extort $25 million from Nike “by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met.”

Bronfman’s lead attorney, celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, has been identified as the unnamed Co-Conspirator #1 in a criminal complaint against Avenatti in the Nike matter. Geragos has not been indicted, but a grand jury is reportedly sitting, hearing evidence on the case.

There is some question over whether Avenatti actually owns the seized plane. Fox News reports that federal court records indicate the plane, bought on Jan. 30, 2017, was registered to Passport 420, a company co-owned by Avenatti.

But Avenatti told Fox News, “I haven’t used the plane in almost a year and I gave up my [ownership] interest last year. I have no interest in the plane and could care less.”

Avenatti previously represented adult-film star Stormy Daniels in litigation against President Trump.

On the day following Bronfman’s “fainting” episode (which ended that day’s inquiries by the judge), Bronfman returned to court and said Avenatti no longer represented her.

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Frank Parlato

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  • Avenatti “gave up ownership” in the aircraft. In other words, I sold my share of the aircraft for cash and didn’t pay any taxes on it, which implicates me even further for defrauding the government and/or other persons.

  • “Passport 420?” Sounds like it’s making drug cartel runs to Mexico. Somethin’ like Jeff Epstein’s “Lolita Express”?

    • I’m not convinced Clair will see the inside of a prison. With her money even if she is found guilty, a great appeals attorney will find a technicality to overturn the conviction. Years will pass with her on house arrest and she will quietly get away with it long after Keith has gone to prison. He will probably not live too long and get killed in Federal prison.

      By then no one will even remember Clair was ever involved with Keith. She will be sitting in the south of France sipping expensive wine.

      • Actually Anonymous my money is on Claire Bronfman fleeing the country to France. Clair is too petrified of going to prison, to stick it out, plus a judge will never allow her to leave the United States while her case is on appeal.

        Then again there was that banker, who defrauded investors of millions, that was a fugitive and Clinton pardoned him….

  • MK10ART, you should do a book of your pictures. I like most of them, I could live forever with any of KAR.

  • Clare’s a bitch. Keith did so much for her and she fucks him over and now see what happens to him. Ha!

    • “Yolanda Cortez
      April 10, 2019 at 7:59 pm
      Clare’s a bitch. Keith did so much for her and she fucks him over and now see what happens to him. Ha!”

      Yolanda, If you love Keith so much you can marry him while he’s in prison.
      You would know that he won’t be cheating Onyu with a woman in prison.

  • At least The kids playing ball didn’t have their mommies pay to get them into college.They played ball, hard, on the court. And Nike is the bad guy?

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” In addition, he was credited in the Starz docuseries 'Seduced' for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premieres on May 22, 2022.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Parlato,_Jr.

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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