Apparent Owner Charles Candler Had Committed Suicide During A Federal Investigation

A corporate jet connected to Knoxville, TN, businessman Charles D. "C.D." Candler has been siezed by the IRS as part of an investigation into a multi-state mortgage and investment fraud case. Candler committed suicide March 1st as the case unraveled.

The jet, a 1975 Sabreliner Sabre 60 was registered to a shell company with a Knoxville, TN, address linked to Candler, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. It was siezed in Greenville, S.C., where one of Candler's companies had an office. He had reportedly bought the plane in 2009, and registered it with Benchmark Capital Investments LLC. At the time it was siezed this week, the plane's N number was assigned to "J. Allen Inc." The company had the same address as Candler's office in Knoxville, but the only company registered with that name by the Tennessee Department of State listed a different address and was dissolved in 1994.

There is a J. Allen and Associates, which is part of the federal investigation, but owner Joyce Allen has said she had no knowledge that Candler had registered the jet in the name of a company very similar to hers. The ownership records on the airplane are vague at best, and federal authorities said they do not think that Joyce Allen was told that the registration was occurring. She has never done business as J. Allen Inc.

FMI: www.irs.gov