Missouri man gets 11 years in swindling of Darien company

A Missouri businessman was sentenced last Wednesday to 11 years in prison for a $7 million fraud scheme related to his commercial aircraft supply businesses, according to federal prosecutors.

Kyle J. Wine, 42, of Lee's Summit, Mo., will serve three years of supervised release after his federal prison sentence, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery announced in a news release.

As part of the scheme, Wine induced a Darien investment firm to pay $4.5 million for the purported acquisition and sale of an Airbus A320-231 airframe and two aircraft engines, Avery said.

Wine owned various commercial aircraft supply businesses, including JetPro International LLC, Nexus Aviation and Turbotech Partners. Avery said he used the companies to defraud investors in aircraft-related transactions between 2018 and 2021.

"Wine used victims' money to purchase aircraft airframes and engines, sold the aircraft airframes and engines, hid the resulting profits from his investors, and diverted invested funds for his personal use," Avery said.

While working with the Darien firm, Wine created fake domain names and email accounts to send fictitious correspondence to the victim investor. He used the correspondence to trick the firm into believing his company, Jet Pro, was attempting to sell the aircraft engines and airframe to buyers, according to Avery.

It turns out Wine had already sold one engine for $2.45 million and the Airbus airframe for $1.3 million. However, he kept the profits for himself, Avery said. Avery said Wine used some of the invested funds to purchase another engine without the investor knowing.

In total, Wine's fraud scheme caused 13 separate victims to lose about $7.15 million. He pleaded guilty in July to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

The plea marked the second time Wine was convicted on federal charges. Avery said he pleaded guilty in 2010 to fraud and money laundering offenses stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme that involved approximately $4.4 million in fraudulent loans on 86 properties in Missouri. He was later sentenced to probation.

Avery noted Wine has been detained since December when his bond was revoked for creating and submitting counterfeit bank statements in an attempt to obtain a loan to purchase a Cadillac Escalade from a Kansas car dealership.

Staff writer Liz Hardaway contributed to this story. [email protected]. Twitter @RichChumney.