Debra Lynn Mercer-Erwin, the landlord of an aircraft trust company, has testified in court docket for five-and-a-half hours, denying that she confessed to any crimes after her arrest. This contradicts the claims of two federal brokers who testified that Mercer-Erwin said involvement in a Ponzi scheme involving faux airplane offers together with her alleged co-conspirator. The brokers claimed that she admitted in proffer statements after her arrest that ten of her planes had ended up within the arms of drug smugglers. However, Mercer-Erwin later modified her thoughts and determined to visit trial on fees filed in a multi-part indictment. The brokers additionally claimed that Mercer-Erwin advised them that she was hoping to obtain a ‘large payout’ from an alleged Ponzi scheme that she said working from 2014 to 2020, fueled by way of the sale of as much as 100 faux aircraft transactions involving a minimum of $500 million.
Mercer-Erwin denied pocketing any escrow charges that weren’t “legitimate” and claiming that she didn’t violate any US rules. However, prosecutors declare that she did not adequately vet international nationals whose planes she positioned in non-citizen trusts thru her different company, Aircraft Guaranty Corp. Foreign nationals can not get US registration for his or her aircraft, however the FAA lets them acquire U.S. registration by way of moving the identify to a trust company. Prosecutors allege that Mercer-Erwin willfully grew to become a blind eye to criminality involving the planes she registered. She has been indicted in reference to 3 planes, two of that have been wearing greater than 3 lots of cocaine once they have been seized.
In court docket, Mercer-Erwin denied understanding that the planes her company registered have been being utilized by drug smugglers and insisted that if she had identified, her company should not have registered the planes. A former worker of Aircraft Guaranty testified that they made positive passports have been “legible, readable,” however did not anything to make sure that they have been legitimate. Prosecutors argued that the buyers have been duped into what used to be meant to be momentary loans for the alleged Ponzi scheme, with low possibility and prime praise, however they allegedly misplaced some $240 million, consistent with court docket data and their civil lawyers.
Finally, Mercer-Erwin testified that about 10 of the handfuls of airplane transactions indexed at the 23-page ledger seemed to be respectable. She known as Federico Machado, her alleged associate, a “fast talker” and mentioned she discovered it obscure him. Prosecutors declare that Mercer-Erwin agreed to practice Machado’s orders and that she used to be advised by way of him “when, where and how to disburse funds.” Her testimony will proceed on Friday, and the prosecution workforce has now not but had the chance to cross-examine her.