Platinum Jet Founders Sentenced To Prison

Michael Brassington, former president, CEO chief pilot and cofounder of Fort Lauderdale-based charter operator Platinum Jet, and his brother, former v-p and co-founder Paul Brassington, were sentenced on Tuesday to 30 months and 18 months, respectively, for offenses related to the crash of a Challenger 600 attempting to take off at Teterboro Airport in 2005. According to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, the two men were charged with multiple offenses, “arising from a conspiracy to commit continuous, willful violations of regulation requirements for the operation of commercial charter aircraft.” In addition to the prison terms, Judge Denis Cavanaugh sentenced each man to three years of supervised release. Two other former employees of Platinum Jet were convicted and sentenced last month. Another pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and no sentencing date has been set. A contract pilot who was in the cockpit at the time of the Teterboro crash is being tried separately in Florida District Court. Charges against the former director of maintenance were dismissed earlier this year.