Starwood Management Executive Was Accused Of Falsifying Documents In 1990s, 2000s

The company that owned the airplane which went down early this week resulting in the fatal injury of Latin-American celebrity Jenni Rivera and six others had been accused of falsifying records about airplanes they had bought and sold in the past, according to a report appearing in the Los Angeles Times. The Lear 25 reportedly entered a steep dive at 28,000 feet and did not recover before impacting terrain on the side of a mountain near the Mexican town of Iturbide.

Secretary of Communications and Transportation Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said in an interview with Radio Formula that the Lear impacted terrain only about 1.2 miles from the point that it entered the dive, meaning it was nearly vertical. The speed of the airplane may have topped 500 knots during the descent, which reportedly lasted about 30 seconds.
 
According to the report, Christian E. Esquino Nunez, an executive of Las Vegas-based Starwood Management LLC which is the registered owner of the Lear, had been accused of a conspiracy to falsify maintenance documents about aircraft under their management in the 1990s and 2000s. He pleaded guilty to the charges in 2005, and served two years in a federal prison. After his release, he was deported back to Mexico.

In a telephone interview with the paper, Esquino said that Rivera was planning to buy the jet, which was manufactured in 1969, for $250,000. He said the flight was a free "demo" for the singer before they concluded the deal, not a charter flight.

Esquino said that he understands why authorities and others are questioning his past, but that the airplane was "perfectly maintained." He said in his mind, the "only conceivable explanation" is that the 78-year-old pilot became incapacitated in some way, perhaps a heart attack, and the younger copilot was unable to regain control of the aircraft. While the pilot, Miguel Parez Soto, was licenced to operate the airplane in Mexico, U.S. authorities said he was not instrument rated by the FAA, and was not authorized to carry passengers for hire in the U.S.

According to an article appearing in the Huffington Post, the DEA is also looking at the company that owned the airplane. The agency seized two of its aircraft as part of an ongoing investigation. DEA spokeswoman Lisa Webb Johnson said that the airplanes had been seized in Texas and Arizona, but did not offer any further details about the matter. According to the report, one airplane, a Gulfstream G-1159A the government valued at $500,000, was seized in February by the U.S. Marshals Service on behalf of the DEA after it arrived in Tucson on a flight that began in Mexico. In September, the government took a 1977 Hawker 700 belonging to the company with an insured value of $1 million – after it landed in McAllen, Texas, again following a flight from Mexico.

The agency has also issued a subpoenaed all of the company's records, including any communication it may have had with a former mayor of Tijuana believed to have connections with organized crime.

In a related development, two of the police officers working the accident scene have been arrested and accused of stealing "unspecified items" they were supposed to protect.

Investigators found personal items in the homes of the two officers who were supposed to be guarding the site. They were reportedly attached to a new unit designed to be less corrupt, according to Fox News Latino. The investigation began when a Blackberry device belonging to one of the guards was discovered to contain images of wreckage, personal items, and body parts.

The NTSB is assisting in the Mexican government in the investigation.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov