Former SSH Owner Now Deputy In Texas

The saga of former Silver State Helicopters owner Jerry Airola has a new chapter. KLAS-8 in Las Vegas reports the Nevada expatriate is now the focus of a federal investigation into a number of suspect business dealings.

As ANN reported, Silver State closed up shop February 3 of last year, and filed for Chapter 7 liquidation the next day. It was an ignominious end for a company that had expanded rapidly throughout the nation, recruiting students with a fast-track rotorcraft proficiency course and the promise of job placement upon completion of their training.

Airola was a no-show at an April court hearing into claims he cleaned out student tuition accounts, less than 48 hours before filing Chapter 7 liquidation.

The shutdown left approximately 2,000 students across the country scrambling, many with student loans to repay. Airports once served by Silver State were stuck with unpaid fuel bills and other fees racked up by the school. Facing a number of federal grand jury subpoenas, Airola fled Nevada after Silver State closed its doors... and is now a sheriff's deputy for a Native American tribe in Texas.

George Kelesis, who has the unenviable task of representing Airola against those investigations, says he firmly believes his client has been made an unfortunate scapegoat for a far greater mess.

"I'm not saying Mr. Airola is a victim," Kelesis said. "I'm saying Mr. Airola is not responsible for the acts they are trying to attribute to him."

The attorney says Airola sold most of his shares in Silver State Helicopters in 2007 to new owners, and left the company in sound financial condition. The decision to file for liquidation soon thereafter was theirs alone, he claims.

"That position was opposed to adamantly, vehemently, and loudly by Mr. Airola," Kelesis asserts. "He did not want to file bankruptcy. In fact, he objected and voted against it."

Furthermore, Kelesis maintains Airola had arranged a program for students left out in the cold by the SSH closure to complete their training at one of five alternate schools... but that the new owners shut him down.

"He had no power," said Kelesis. "He had no say so. He had no authority."

If that sounds as though Kelesis is attempting to paint his client as something of an antihero, it's worth noting the attorney isn't exactly an Airola apologist; in fact, Kelesis says, he's a close personal friend of Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, who won election to that office in 2006 following a bitter campaign against... Jerry Airola.

"The circumstances are very unique," Kelesis admits.

FMI: www.nvd.uscourts.gov