ASA could become the subject of a criminal probe led by FBI

ASA students celebrating Reny Kozman's b'day, a file photo.

American School of Aviation,  already besought with civil lawsuits, could become the subject of a criminal probe led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II has asked the FBI to take a role into the investigation of the American School of Aviation. Morse said the district attorney’s office needs the FBI’s assistance in performing forensic accounting to discover if crimes were committed by Manpreet “Prince” Singh and his wife Reny Kozman, who co-owned the flight school along with partners in India.

“There are a variety of issues involving potential criminal fraud arising from the situation,” Morse wrote in the letter sent to the FBI.

As a matter of course, the FBI will not confirm if they are involved in a criminal investigation.

The students’ tuition fees were supposed to be kept in a trust account and charged as the students progressed through their flight training. A lawsuit filed by 52 of the students in July alleges that Singh directed the tuition directly into his own accounts. It accuses him of fraud, breach of contract and misrepresentation. Among the allegations made against the school and Singh is that they continued to recruit students despite knowing they could not provide the instruction as promised.

The students are seeking $2.2 million in refunds and punitive damages. The lawsuit was filed with the Merced County Superior Court, but the papers have not been served upon Singh because he hasn’t been located, according to attorney Palvir Shoker, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the students.

A second set of 10 students has filed a similar lawsuit and is seeking $200,000. The lawsuit was filed by attorney Jeffrey Poindexter and claims that the students were directed to a fake ASA Web site where they could ostensibly keep track of how their tuition funds were being deducted. The complaints states: “This accounting system was set up to deceive and mislead the students. As soon as the students would make a tuition payment of $40,000, the defendants would spend all of the money. This allegation is premised upon the fact that the defendants have conceded they owe the refunds, but claim they have no money to pay the refunds…

“By immediately spending the entirety of a student’s tuition, without providing the promised flight training and education, the defendants either purposefully, recklessly or negligently began operating as a sort of ponzi scheme. Each new student’s tuition would go to pay the costs and expense of earlier enrolled students.”

Reny Kozman has previously blamed the school’s financial hardships on partners based in India, who she says stole the school’s money in her email to SecondCity last month.

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Open letter to the Sheriff and the District Attorney of the Merced County, California

My view from the sideline:

The Honorable Mark Razin, the Merced County Sheriff
The Honorable Larry Morse II, the District Attorney of the Merced County

In Re: American School of Aviation

Dear Messrs Razin and Morse:

Since the first news appeared in the Merced Sun-Star about a month ago related to the sudden closure of American School of Aviation at Castle Airport, I have been following the matter with my mixed emotion of sympathy and indignation.

From what has been reported by various media, the case appears to have an overwhelming elements of offenses to constitute a criminal fraud, yet no criminal charges have been filed to this day against the unscrupulous school owner(s) much to the public dismay, why?

ASA owners with Vijay Mallaya of Kingfisher Airlines

In the follow up story appearing in the Merced Sun-Star on August 05, 2008, it was reported that the FBI assistance was being sought because your office/department couldn’t handle the forensic accounting needed (emphasis added). Please kindly explain this highfalutin legalese to the public in a layman’s term, and the reason why so.

You have all the evidence and prosecuting authority necessary to file the case right where you’re in the Merced County. Why look elsewhere by somehow suggesting with a specious notion that this is an international case involving foreign nationals and therefore out side of your jurisdiction. Why not proceed on your own without any further indecision irrespective of whether the feds assistance and cooperation on the case is forthcoming or not.

The most recent record of the FAA aircraft registry shows eighteen aircraft formally owned and registered to the debtor defendant changed hands earlier this week. (13 on 8/04, 5 on 8/05) This alone ipso facto constitutes a felony offense under the Penal Code§155.

There seems to exist ample evidence with sufficiency to bring forth criminal charges under but not limited to the following penal codes:

§155 Defendant or judgement debtor fraudulently removing, concealing, or disposing of personal
property sought to be recovered.
§476 (a) Checks, bank drafts insufficient funds; Intent to defraud
§484.b Diversion of funds received to obtain or pay for services, labor, materials or equipment
§532 False pretenses; obtaining money, labor or property
§573 Defrauding innkeepers, etc.

Having stated the above, I have read the following mission statement from the respective offices and while came away quite impressed with the lofty statements, it’s more than apparent that none of the goals stated therein have yet to be fulfilled as far as the American School of Aviation case is concerned.

Here’s your statement, Sheriff Razin.
“Our mission is to provide responsive, professional, and caring law enforcement service to all the people of Merced County. We will respond to call for service promptly, protect lives and property to the best of our abilities, initiate and maintain crime prevention programs, and apprehend criminal offenders.” –Sheriff Mark Razin-

And here’s the one from the DA’s office.
“The mission of the Merced County District Attorney’s Office is to seek justice by ensuring that victim’s rights and the public’s safety are our first priority through the fair, equal, vigorous, and efficient enforcement of the criminal laws.” – Merced County District Attorney’s Office -

It is my sincere hope that the elected high officials of the Merced County such as yourselves live up to the own mission statement for the good of the public without resorting to another “forensic accounting” bit.

Respectfully submitted.

Echo Yankee, ATP/A&P

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Free Air tickets for jailed Sri lankan Domestic helpers in Bahrain

Sri Lankan Government has pledged to pay for the air tickets of female workers returning home from Bahrain’s prisons. Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) action committee head Marietta Dias said the vow was made to the society by Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry officials.

“We have spoken with the Sri Lankan Government and they have said they will arrange the air tickets for the repatriation of women in prison,” she told the SecondCity News Desk.

“They told us not to pay for any more air tickets and let them know if any new cases come up.”

Dias said the Sri Lankan Government had also agreed to fund the air tickets of runaway housemaids Ismail Nisvika, 26, and Chitra Kodikara, 35, who have been staying at the MWPS shelter for several months.

Dias said she had no idea why the Government suddenly decided to take financial responsibility for female prisoners, or how the plan would work.

But she welcomed the offer to improve the support available to the 12,000-strong Sri Lankan population in Bahrain.

“It is a step in the right direction because it is becoming too expensive for us to buy tickets for these people,” Dias said.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Kuwait looks after the affairs of its citizens in Bahrain, although some visa and consular services are offered through honorary Consul-General P B Higgoda at the Sri Lanka Club.

Meanwhile, Dias said the number of housemaids of all nationalities running away from their sponsors was on the rise and called for the recruitment of highly-skilled workers.

“It is a fact that more are running away and we have noticed that,” she said.

“Many have never dealt with household gadgets and equipment and are not used to the size of the houses.

“It is unfair to the sponsors also, as they see that these people are not capable and there is also the language and cultural barrier,” she added.

Related Story: The Media Line: THE PLIGHT OF SRI LANKA’S ENSLAVED MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS AND SISTERS

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American Express Issues Travel Insurance Warning

Travelling abroad on your EHIC alone does not provide you with sufficient cover, the credit card firm has warned.

Many British holidaymakers are neglecting to take out travel insurance - because they believe that their EHIC cards offer them cover instead.

According to research from American Express, 2.3 million travellers who took a trip within the EU over the past year did not take out insurance for this reason. The firm also said that this total had not significantly changed since a similar poll was taken in 2006

Currently, the free cards do not provide holiday cancellation, curtailment or repatriation. Instead, EHIC merely offers holidaymakers free or reduced healthcare in EU countries, in cases of accident, injury or illness.

Chris Rolland, head of American Express Insurance Services, explained: “EHIC cards are solely for emergency medical treatment in Europe and people must make sure that they have independent, quality travel insurance to ensure that they have comprehensive cover to avoid any unwanted financial difficulties.”

He added: “With so many Brits planning a summer holiday in Europe this month, travellers should be careful not to rely on European Health Insurance Cards. They are not a substitute for comprehensive travel insurance so you will not be covered for delays, loss of baggage or cancellations or experience other benefits of having an independent travel insurance policy.”

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America’s very own Bunty & Babli planning an escape to Egypt?

Today I came to know that Prince and Reny have ran to Egypt,I don’t know whether this is true or not . And their house in Atwater is now in fore closure.

America's very own Bunty & Babli escaped to Egypt?

Well guys don’t worry, Singh and Reny will surely pay for what they have done. Though they have 4.4. Million Dollars but they will never have Peace and Happiness in their life, which we all have or will surely have. As before I have written , though we lost our money but our truth is with us, our God is with us.
Cheating and looting people is in Singh’s blood, but we all know that the wealth earned by cheating someone never last for long, and plus God is always watching everything.
Singh and Reny will surely end up behind bars , but that is not enough,because he will also be punished by GOD and that will be worse for him.

Well keep fighting for justice and never give up because God is with us , though it will take time but at last truth triumphs.

Navdeep, So you say……. “Any updates on this? Is he fixed now?”

His school is SHUT DOWN , His American School Of Aviation has become the biggest SCAM in Aviation Industry , He has become NOTORIOUS ,his family has become NOTORIOUS too, his bad deeds in India and also here have been revealed to the world , there are Records in the Police Station and in DA’s office , His house is in Fore Closure , The victim’s are cursing him , whatever he was doing from 1995 or maybe before that has now come to an end and so on.
If you really love your parents and believe in GOD then you must be knowing the meaning of BLESSINGS and CURSING. Do you know what do we achieve after someone gives us Blessing or someone CURSES us for we doing something wrong ? If yes , then you must know what will Singh and Reny get in return for what they have done.

Do you think this is not at least the START of really “FIXING” him. Hundreds of families have been saved , so what else do you want?
Instead of sitting on ass and letting him loot us and also loot others, we struggled hard to STOP him from doing that.

Do you know Lord Ram , Lord Krishna , Jesus Christ? Have you heard about them.
Well let me tell you , in today’s world people call them as GOD , and you know the history , they had to suffer too. Yes you read it right, they suffered too, they fought for TRUTH and JUSTICE , and now we call them as GOD. If anyone is born or died , its all done by god. God is really watching everything.

So what if we lost our $17,000/ , but at least we didn’t bend our knees and kept quite, but instead we fought , so that Singh should be punished for what he has done.
Well, if God has struggled then who are we???
One day you will get the Update that ” Prince and Reny are finished” …..how and when I will let you know for sure.

I totally agree with Pilot747 , you are Prince or Reny using other names because you have no identity now.

Prince and Reny , one day will come in your life that you will cry for one drop of water and that time people , forget about people even animals will feel ashamed to pee in your mouth.
You will end up very soon……very very soon.

Bhavana.

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Open letter to SABA President Khurshid Khoja, Esquire

In Re: American School of Aviation

Dear Mr.Khoja

I applause and thank you for the SABA’s decision to come to aid for the American School of Aviation students stranded in Atwater. It’s a light at the end of the tunnel with a hope of getting out the quagmire at long last.

Early this year, Silver State Helicopters (SSH) school in Las Vegas closed by filing a Chapter 7. Over 2,500 students lost $70,000 each. They operated 250 helicopters at 40 school locations. If the past similar school closure cases are any indication, the prosecution of the ASA case seems less likely. Your writing to the county DA requesting criminal charges to be brought against the unscrupulous school owner(s) is a step in the right direction.

For the recovery of student fund in absence of any disposable assets likely to be left with ASA, I am of an opinion that only viable means is to name both the Kingfisher Airlines and the student loan lending institutions as co-defendants in the lawsuit. The desire to keep their public image from tarnished is likely to make them think twice to get entangled in a lawsuit and it would bring them swiftly to the settlement table.

While no lawyers are miracle workers, I trust that one of your able member lawyers with legal expertise in this venue and judicial connection in India could rise to an occasion to build a strong enough case to achieve success in recovering the lost student’s fund.

In July 2007, the Bureau for Private Post secondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) was abolished much to the public dismay leaving the consumers statewide unprotected. While your organization’s bifurcated effort in civil and criminal front continues, it would serve a great public interest at this juncture if you could take one step further to push for a timely legislative enactment for the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF) to safeguard student’s tuition from school failures and closures in the future. Real social justice then becomes apparent not as something that will be but something that is. I wish you success in this endeavor. Until such time, sir I am.

Respectfully submitted.

Echo Yankee
ATP/A&P

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South Asian Bar Association of Northern California to help ASA students

It seems that help is on its way for the students of the American School of Aviation,  South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (SABA) has offered assistance to the more than 100 stranded students for assessing their legal options to get justice and remain within the U.S.

A press release issued by the South Asian Bar Association confirms the report. “These students have been placed in a really tough situation. They did not receive the opportunity to complete their coursework as promised and have not been assured that refunds will be provided. Many of them do not have permanent housing and some of them are still attempting to transfer to other schools,” said Shaamini Babu, Co-chair of SABA’s Pro Bono Committee, who is working with Ashok Sinha, consul for community affairs at the Consulate General of India in San Francisco, to ascertain the facts of the case and the legal issues that the students are facing.

Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security has expressed its wish not to pressurize the students to leave the country upon the expiration of their current visas.

SABA President Khurshid Khoja has asked Merced County District Attorney to bring criminal charges against the owners of the American School of Aviation, a critical move, which will help students obtain U.S. visas for them to remain in the country indefinitely and receive work authorization.

SABA also provided the students with referrals to attorneys in the area willing to take on the civil matter on a contingency basis.

“Our Pro Bono Committee normally doesn’t refer clients to counsel willing to work pro bono unless the public interest is directly implicated. However, in this situation we were able to find SABA members willing to work on contingency because this potential breach of contract renewed our community’s outrage over the exploitation of immigrant South Asians by swindlers, traffickers, and other opportunists who prey on the vulnerable,” said Vid Prabhakaran, SABA Vice President-External.

In this type of contingency arrangement, the attorney receives a percentage of the recovery, only if a recovery is made. In the event that the attorney is unsuccessful, he suffers the costs of bringing the legal action including the costs of filing fees, expert fees, investigation fees, and the attorney’s own legal fees.

Students can contact SABA members and discuss their further plans on below given contact details:

General inquiries about ASA cases should be directed to SABA President Khurshid Khoja via e-mail or mail to:

South Asian Bar Association of Northern California
c/o The Chugh Firm
4800 Great America Parkway, Ste 310
Santa Clara, CA 95054

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Travel agent’s trial date vacated as defense looks at options

The Fallon (Fallon is a city in Churchill County, located in western Nevada, United States) travel agent accused of embezzling money from more than 30 people had her scheduled trial date of Sept. 15 vacated Tuesday morning.

Cynthia Lea Holland-Taylor, 60, is charged with 36 crimes, including 16 counts of embezzlement, 16 counts of use of a personal identification and two counts fraud of credit.

District Judge David Huff set a Sept. 2 status hearing with Holland-Taylor in which she could change her plea again.

District Attorney Art Mallory said his office is not changing its position, but added the defense is re-evaluating the case and the not guilty plea.

Mallory said the state wants Holland-Taylor – if convicted Ð to be sent to the Nevada State Prison for the crimes.

He said the eliminated trial date leads him to believe there is a good possibility Holland-Taylor will enter a plea on Sept. 12. If she does not, a new trial date would have to be scheduled.

While the jury trial was scheduled for Sept. 15-26, her attorney, Paul Drakulich has said he doubted the case would go to trial, adding he thought there would be a resolution before then.

The charges against Holland-Taylor stem from her business, Cindy’s Travel Unlimited, in which she allegedly double-billed some customers and took payments for tickets never purchased.

She allegedly received $19,000 in tickets from Blue Sky Travel but never paid for them.

Holland-Taylor is also charged with issuing a bad check, which carries a prison sentence of one to four years and a $5,000 fine.

The embezzlement charges carry penalties of one to 10 years in the Nevada State Prison on each count, and the sentences would double for any victim who is an elderly person. According to the application for the arrest warrant, many of the alleged victims are more than 60 years old.

Obtaining and using false identities of others carries a sentence up to 20 years in the Nevada State Prison and a $100,000 fine, while the fraudulent credit card offenses carry a sentence of one to six years on each

Holland-Taylor remains free on a bail of $167,500.

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Only chance of recovery of the student’s fees from ASA is……………….

Hello ASA students,

First off, I’d like to express my sincere sympathy for those students stranded by the recent ASA fiasco and wish you all the early arrival of meaningful assistance to alleviate the current enduring hardship. I have no personal stake in this ordeal and neither lost nor gained anything from this occurrence. Nevertheless I can’t stop being indignant about both Prince and Reny of their incompetence and deceit whichever the characterization is appropriate that brought to cause a current plight onto those young aspiring Indian students.

In as much as I’d like to believe that Prince and Reny stashed away a sizable amount of cash somewhere as some still like to speculate or believe and therefore there’s some chance of recovery of their prepaid fees, it pains me to tell you all such chances to exist is literally infinitesimal if not nonexistent.

I know it’s easier said than done but give it a rest on a hope of recovery by a means of law suit. In the Breach of Contract case such as this, you will most likely prevail in the court and obtain a judgment. But think about it, what good is it that the judgment that can collect nothing from the defaulting party. A writ of execution issued from the court is just a useless paper of no value. Remember no one wins in a law suit except lawyers. (been there, done that, fought an airport use permit issue against a county ordinance in the US Federal Court and won the battle but lost the war in the end after consuming 3 years and $150K in legal fees, .a Pyrrhic victory indeed.

Judging from the reported size of operation,(110 students, 43 instructors, 40 aircraft) the monthly operating cost could be anywhere from $225k to $250k/mo. or more to keep that size of operation going. Remember ASA did not have $4.4 mil in a lump sum cash to start with. It’s an accumulative total revenue over the time they were in business. Unless they had an sufficient operating capital set aside which I doubt, their monthly operating expenses were entirely relied on one source; student fees. There’re good months with some surplus fund left and there’re some bad months with an insufficient amount of income even to cover the monthly overhead. It’s highly probable that ASA needed at minimum 4 to 5 new students to keep its doors open. All fees collected from the students were all spent long since and I bet they’re just scraping by from month to month with a hope of someday getting ahead with an arrival of new enrollment group consisting of substantial number of students. Unfortunately, that day never came and the KFA fallout was the last straw. And while they were still at it, the problems started to pile up one after another. It probably started with a minor student’s complain and then rapidly growing to many issues that eventually raised red flags and invited all kinds of government scrutinies from all directions FAA, County’s office, IRS, FTA (Calif. State Franchise Tax Board) and all. Despite less than honorable character references made about both Prince and Reny in many posts, I doubt they had planned this outcome from the beginning. It’s a case of pure incompetence and mismanagement. They had somehow managed to slip their foot in the door and pried open the business opportunity just in time to ride the surging tide of pilot shortages beginning to be faced by the Indian airlines.

Some of you already know about another flight school closure earlier this year which draws some parallels to the events at ASA in the order of far greater magnitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_State_Helicopters

Silver State Helicopter (SSH) school headquartered in Las Vegas closed abruptly by filing Chapter 7 leaving 2,500 students out to the street. They operated over 250 helicopters at over 40 schools nationwide in the US. All students prepaid $70,000 each for their training fees. A Class action suit is pending in the Nevada Court and the lawyers are having field days. Good lawyers can compose an opposing lawyer’s argument before composing his own and they are very good and capable indeed and naturally they command high fees most can’t afford.

The only chance of recovery of the student’s fees from ASA is by naming KFA along with banks and lending institutions as co-defendant on the premise that they too are culpable for the damages sustained by those entrusting students. Their failure to perform proper audit and due diligence on the flight school led to the demise of the program today otherwise succeeded. This premise has a much greater chance of succeeding and the judgement amount of $5 mil range plus legal expenses has far more chances of collection from KFA and the Indian lending institutions involved than nonexistent collection probability from the duo Prince and Reny.

Now sit tight and think hard about the good advices offered in the Capt. Kishore’s post and begin to make a check list of your own action plan and proceed to follow thru on it one by one. BTW, make sure to insist on a kind of insurance policy like the one mentioned in the navdeev’s post if you’re fortunate enough to take out another loan again.

Before too long, you’ll be out of the soup and turbulence and you’ll be back cruising in the smooth blue skies again. How do I know this? Well I went through the similar ordeals few times myself since my first arrival in the US in 1968 from Asia and got my ATP, A&P, MEI, AD and few more ratings and pursued my aviation career until my semi-retirement from flight duties few years ago. Well, that’s my two cents. Hang tight and never ever give up your goal.
All the best.

Echo Yankee, Real identity not revealed……

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Stranded Indian Medical students in China are being flown home by Air India

Dozens of Indian medical students who have been stranded in China after buying fake air tickets are being flown home, officials from Air India say.

The airline flew 12 of the students back to India on Monday.

Many students returning to India on holiday were left stranded in Beijing and other parts of China after they learnt their tickets were bogus.

Indian papers reported on Monday that the students were allegedly duped by a Bangladeshi travel agent.

The papers said that one of the students had filed a complaint with the Beijing police.

According to a press release by Air India the airline would bring all the students back to India in the next two to three days.

“We have been approached by at least 30 students so far who are being brought back to India on regular flights from Beijing,” said Prasad Rao, spokesman from Air India.

On Sunday Emirates Airways and Malaysian Airlines were reported not to have accepted the students’ e-tickets on the grounds that they were fake. They were prevented from boarding their flights.

Air India says more than 15 students are flying back on Tuesday and a batch of 20 will be put on a flight to India on Wednesday.

Mr Rao said they were giving priority to the stranded students but he said they were helping only those who were coming forward for help.

He clarified that the travel was not free and students were paying $631 (27,000 rupees) each, which is 15% less than the fares charged by other airlines.

Hundreds of Indian students travel to China and Russia to study medicine rather than sit stringent entrance tests in India.

Most of the students were studying in specialized ultrasound school. Being highly demanding carrier, ultrasound school are very much in demand all over the world.

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