Man Who Defrauded Darien Investment Firm Sentenced: Feds

DARIEN, CT — A 42-year-old man who pleaded guilty last year to fraud and money laundering offenses after he defrauded multiple victims, including a Darien investment firm, out of millions of dollars, was sentenced in Bridgeport this week to 11 months in prison, according to a news release from Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

At the completion of his sentence, Kyle J. Wine, of Lee's Summit, Mo., will be under supervised release for three years.

Prosecutors said Wine's scheme utilized his commercial aircraft supply business, and caused $7.1 million in damage to 13 separate victims.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Wine owned and operated various companies engaged in the business of commercial aircraft supply, including JetPro International, LLC, Nexus Aviation and Turbotech Partners.

From at least 2018 through 2021, Avery said Wine defrauded investors in aircraft-related transactions. Avery said Wine purchased aircraft airframes and engines with victims' money, sold the parts, hid the resulting profits from his investors and diverted money for his personal use.

As part of the scheme, Wine induced an investment firm based in Darien to invest $4.5 million in the purported acquisition and sale of an Airbus A320-231 airframe and two aircraft engines, Avery said.

Wine sent fictitious correspondence to the victim investor and created fake domain names and email accounts, according to Avery. He then used those email accounts to send fraudulent correspondence to the victim investor to trick the investor into believing that JetPro was attempting to sell the Airbus airframe and the two aircraft engines to certain buyers.

But Avery said that Wine had already sold one engine for $2.45 million, and the Airbus airframe for $1.3 million. He never informed the victim investor of those sales and shared none of the proceeds, Avery said, noting that Wine also used some of these invested funds to purchase another aircraft engine without the knowledge of the victim investor.

U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams will issue a restitution order for Wine after additional court proceedings, Avery said. The restitution obligation will be reduced to reflect money recouped through the sale of any asset that was part of his fraud scheme.

Wine pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in July 2022.

In November 2022, while he was released on bond pending sentencing, Wine created and submitted counterfeit bank statements in an attempt to obtain a loan to purchase a Cadillac Escalade from a Kansas auto dealership, Avery said. He has been detained since December 2022 when his bond was revoked.

This is Wine’s second federal conviction, Avery noted.

In 2010, he pleaded guilty in the Western District of Missouri to fraud and money laundering offenses stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme that involved approximately $4.4 million in fraudulent loans on 86 properties, Avery said. He received a sentence of probation.