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March 18, 2010 -
CHICAGO—The owner of an aircraft leasing company was ordered released
from federal custody on Wednesday evening after he was arrested on
Tuesday for allegedly engaging in a commercial bribery scheme with an
executive of another commercial airplane sale and leasing company.
Brian Hollnagel,
owner, president and chief executive officer of the BCI Aircraft
Leasing, Inc., formerly of Naperville and later Chicago, was charged in
a federal grand jury indictment that was returned on March 10 and
unsealed Tuesday following
his arrest, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for
the Northern District of Illinois.
Hollnagel, 36, of |
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Also indicted, but not arrested, was Brian Olds, 67, of Kildeer, former
vice president of the Aircraft Group of AAR Corp., of Wood Dale, who was
also involved in the sale and leasing of commercial aircraft. He was
charged with wire fraud, two counts of tax evasion and filing a false
federal income tax return and will be arraigned at a later date in U.S.
District Court.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of at least $400,000 representing
alleged bribe payments from Hollnagel to Olds, as well as unspecified
proceeds from the sale or purchase of airplanes by BCI as a result of
the alleged bribe payments.
According to the indictment, in 2004 and early 2005, Hollnagel and Olds
agreed that in exchange for a bribe payment of approximately $250,000,
Olds would use his position at
In negotiating for AAR’s purchase of the two planes from BCI, Olds
allegedly provided Hollnagel and BCI with confidential information
regarding the price that AAR was willing to pay and negotiated knowing
that he was not trying to obtain the lowest price possible for |
Olds also
allegedly provided Hollnagel and BCI with
In late 2004,
Hollnagel and Olds further agreed that in exchange for a bribe payment
of approximately $180,000, Olds would use his position to ensure that
AAR would sell to BCI three commercial planes that
The tax counts
allege that in 2004 and 2005 Olds evaded his tax obligations by
concealing the fraudulent income he received from BCI, and that he filed
a false federal income tax return for 2005 that under-reported the total
income he earned from a company he used to receive the BCI payments, as
well as overstated the business’s deductions.
The government is
being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Drury and Kenneth
Yeadon.
Wire fraud carries
a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or a fine
totaling twice the loss to any victim or twice the gain to the
defendant, whichever is greater. |
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