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Date: 03-09-2023
Case Style:
United States of America v. Stefan Gillier, a/k/a Stephan Gillier, a/k/a Stefan R.R. Gillier, a/k/a Roland Gillier, a/k/a Roland Van Gorp
Case Number: 1:11-cr-00409-PAE
Judge: Paul A. Engelmayer
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in New York City
Defendant's Attorney:
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Description: New York City, New York criminal defense lawyers represented Defendant charged with engaging in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain over six million dollars’ worth of aircraft parts.
Stefan Gillier was the president and ran the day-to-day business activities of RTF International Inc. (“RTF”), a broker of aircraft parts. RTF began obtaining aircraft parts from Honeywell International, Inc. (“Honeywell”) in June 2004. Starting in 2005, RTF began increasing the number of parts it ordered from Honeywell, paying for them by check. RTF paid with checks written in foreign currency and for amounts well above the cost of the parts, which created an apparent credit balance in RTF’s favor in Honeywell’s accounting system. RTF wrote approximately $17 million worth of checks to Honeywell but stopped payment on approximately $15 million worth of checks.
In particular, GILLIER signed checks to Honeywell on behalf of RTF but repeatedly caused stop payment orders to be placed after Honeywell shipped the parts to RTF. When questioned by Honeywell’s employees about these stop payment orders, GILLIER, using the alias “Roland Van Gorp,” falsely represented that the stop payment orders were the result of a misunderstanding with the bank and that he would check with RTF’s finance department. In fact, as GILLIER knew, he had issued the stop payment orders, and RTF did not have a finance department.
In total, GILLIER was able to obtain over $6 million worth of aircraft parts from Honeywell without paying for the parts.
In June 2006, Honeywell executed a civil attachment order and recovered some of the aircraft parts stolen by GILLIER. Following the execution of the civil attachment order by Honeywell, GILLIER caused various large transfers of fraud proceeds into bank accounts controlled by him, his relatives, and a co-conspirator (“CC-1”). The day after making those transfers, on June 15, 2006, GILLIER left the United States for Canada.
After Honeywell discovered that it was being victimized by RTF, GILLIER and CC-1 continued their fraud scheme through a new corporate entity, “UN Air Services, Inc.” (“UAS”) (which had no relation to the United Nations). In 2006, UAS began obtaining aircraft parts from Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions, Inc. (“Pratt & Whitney”). Like RTF, UAS began stopping payment on checks it had written to Pratt & Whitney for the aircraft parts after Pratt & Whitney delivered the aircraft parts to UAS.
GILLIER was arrested and extradited from Italy in 2019.
18:371.F CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT WIRE FRAUD/MAIL FRAUD, ITSP (INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF STOLEN PROPERTY), UNLAWFUL MONETARY TRANSACTIONS
(1)
18:1341.F FRAUDS AND SWINDLES (MAIL FRAUD)
(2)
18:1341.F FRAUDS AND SWINDLES (MAIL FRAUD)
(2)
18:1343.F FRAUD BY WIRE, RADIO, OR TELEVISION
(3)
18:2314.F SCHEME TO DEFRAUD: MONEY, STATE TAX STAMPS (INTERSTASTE TRANSPORTATION OF STOLEN PROPERTY)
(4)
18:1957-7482.F ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS IN PROPERTY DERIVED FROM SPECIFIED UNLAWFUL ACTIVITY)
(5-8
Outcome: IMPRISONMENT: Eighty-four (84) months: Sixty (60) months on Count 1; 84 months on Counts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8; all terms to run concurrently. The defendant is to receive credit for time served starting from May 24, 2019, the date of his arrest in Italy, at which point the extradition process began. SUPERVISED RELEASE: Three (3) years on each on count, these terms to run concurrently. RESTITUTION: $3,509,913.94
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: