United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney Among Defendants In Alleged Fraud Scheme

Airline industry veteran Robert Hogan and the Dallas-based company he founded have filed suit against his former employer, aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. and others, claiming that they secretly and illegally excluded him and his company from a multimillion-dollar deal based on "fraud, manipulation and greed."

Mr. Hogan is represented by attorneys Darren Nicholson and Mark Torian, both shareholders in the Dallas law firm Sayles Werbner.

"Bob Hogan knows more about the airline industry than perhaps anybody, and the defendants knew this when they brought him in under false pretenses before working in the shadows to illegally shut him out of millions of dollars," says Mr. Nicholson. "It really turns your stomach when you see some of the text messages and emails that Bob received and compare those to what actually happened."

The lawsuit filed June 27 in Dallas County's 44th District Court details how Mr. Hogan was led to believe that his company, AerReach Aero Space Solutions, LLC, would benefit from the lucrative deal he helped develop. Later, he was shocked to discover that his so-called business partners were working behind his back to make sure he got nothing.

Mr. Hogan, who retired his executive position at Pratt & Whitney in 2012, created the company's blueprint for inventory management agreements, which allow customers to buy airline engines and other aviation equipment under consignment before being resold.

The lawsuit contends that Oklahoma lawyer Chad Stanford and Connecticut entrepreneur Ted Glassman earned Mr. Hogan's trust while he worked with them and their Delaware-based company, Turbine Asset Holdings, LLC, to complete tens of millions of dollars in Pratt & Whitney consignment deals in the two years before Mr. Hogan retired.

Mr. Hogan formed AerReach shortly after retiring and signed an agreement three years later with Mr. Stanford and Mr. Glassman for a one-third ownership interest in Turbine Asset in exchange for his expertise in helping the company land new consignment contracts. However, according to the lawsuit, what Mr. Hogan did not know was that his two new business partners had struck a deal a year earlier that directed all of Turbine Asset's profits to a holding company, which made his ownership interest basically worthless.

Unaware of the circumstances, Mr. Hogan worked with his new partners on a $500 million deal with Pratt & Whitney that forecast a net profit of $80 million for their companies. After trying to secure financing, Mr. Hogan was told by Mr. Glassman that Pratt & Whitney had completed the deal with another unnamed company and that,"There will be other deals and we'll figure out how to make it happen…you are my partner and we're brothers."

According to Mr. Hogan, he later learned that the unnamed company actually was a separate entity, JSS Holdings Group, LLC, which Mr. Stanford and Mr. Glassman had formed without his knowledge. He says JSS Holdings relied on the same plan he developed to complete the $500 million deal.

The lawsuit includes various claims against Pratt & Whitney and the other defendants, including allegations of fraud, breach of partnership agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, civil conspiracy, and tortious interference, among others. The case is AerReach Aero Space Solutions, LLC, et al. v. Stanford, et al., No.DC-16-07714.

(Source: Sayles Werbner news release)

Source: www.swtriallaw.com