Bell’s vice president for Latin America, Javier Ortiz Torres, better known as Jay Ortiz, was arrested on December 11 after being indicted in Texas Northern Federal District Court on conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges related to the sale of four helicopters to the Puerto Rican government. On December 18, a Bell spokesman confirmed to AIN that the company is aware of the case, that Ortiz remains employed by the helicopter maker, and declined further comment aside from an email stating, “As a matter of Textron policy, we cannot comment on matters in the court.”
The indictment charges Ortiz with conspiring with Ernesto Godoy, then president of Bell’s authorized dealer and service center in Puerto Rico, Ecolift, to devise a scheme to artificially inflate the acquisition costs of three Bell 429s and a 407 to the Puerto Rican government between February 2013 and September 2014. The indictment charges Godoy with agreeing to acquire the helicopters from Bell for $21.6 million but representing the purchase price to a financial institution of $31.9 million. Godoy then signed an agreement to deliver the completed helicopters with police packages to the Puerto Rican government for $32.2 million.
As part of the alleged fraud, a model 2014 Bell 429 was replaced with a 2013 model, a maneuver that generated a gain of $183,000 for Godoy, who is charged with wire and aircraft parts fraud, smuggling, and making false statements. According to the indictment, Ortiz’s role in the scheme appears limited to knowingly reporting an inflated sales price on the 429s to Godoy’s lender on the transaction, Scotiabank. The indictment charges Ortiz reported the sales price of $6.599 million for a 429 when in fact the helicopter was sold to Ecolift for a unit price of $5.975 million. He has been charged with felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements on a loan application.
Notably, the indictment charges that Ortiz “was aided and abetted by others” who are not named and that on December 10 the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Juan moved to seal the case. There is no evidence offered in the indictment that Ortiz personally profited from the alleged fraud beyond the course of his ordinary employment. The indictment alleges that Ortiz and Godoy conspired to inflate the sales price of the helicopters to “cover any shortfall on the loan.”
Most of the 15-count indictment centers on the actions of Godoy, who the U.S. alleges made a total of $2.2 million fraudulently from the transaction. As part of the deal, Godoy agreed to install police packages on the 429s that were FAA certified and approved. The packages included a compressor wash kit, Whelen 2-position LED strobes, patient litter kit, crew peripherals including helmets, flight suits, and rescue harnesses, and a tactical case receiver microwave. On one 429 the indictment alleges the package parts were not installed or double-charged, yielding a fraudulent gain of $168,700; on another 429 the police completion allegedly was performed not in compliance with FAA regulations, yielding a fraudulent gain of $1.857 million. Godoy is also charged with selling unapproved or uncertified components and parts to others including the Dominican Republic Air Force and exporting helicopter parts including pressure valves, starter generators, hydromechanical units, and hydraulic systems in violation of U.S. anti-smuggling laws to SEBIN, the Bolivian National Intelligence Service.