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A federal jury has convicted Patrick Britton Herr, founder of private jet charter startup Aerovanti, on multiple counts of fraud related to allegations that he stole millions of dollars from customers.
Britton Herr, who operated the flight from Sarasota, was convicted this week in the District of Maryland on six counts of wire fraud. According to the ruling, he faces up to 120 years in prison.
According to an article in the Tampa Business Journal, federal prosecutors accused Britton Herr of stealing $15 million from customers by promising them access to members-only private aircraft, which prosecutors claimed Aerovanti never purchased.
Britton Herr’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Britton Herr was separately indicted in May 2025 on multiple counts of health care fraud and one count of money laundering. The lawsuit involves allegations that he fraudulently billed Medicare for certain medical tests through another company he founded, Provista. The trial is scheduled to begin in October, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
AeroVanti was founded in 2021 with the pitch of making private aviation more affordable and accessible. The company raised millions of dollars in seed funding and at one point had ambitions to go public.
But the startup quickly faced mounting legal problems. Multiple lawsuits accuse Britton-Hur of misrepresenting investments and exaggerating the number of aircraft available to customers.
The incident was investigated by the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. AeroVanti was based in Maryland, but its aviation operations were connected to Sarasota.
