Investigations

On October 3, 2019, William Vanmanen, operator of Star Aero (formerly Aero-Star) in Long Island, New York, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, to 30 months’ incarceration, 2 years’ supervised release, and a $300 special court assessment. In March 2016, Vanmanen pleaded guilty to a three-count information that charged him with fraud involving aircraft parts in interstate commerce, attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act, and submitting false export information.

 

The criminal investigation determined that in approximately August 2011, Vanmanen created and used false Airworthiness Approval Tags (FAA Form 8130-3) that falsely reflected the aviation quality of anti-ice controllers installed on aircraft. Separately, in approximately May 2012, he attempted to illegally export restricted defense parts (i.e., fuel filter outlet connector tubes) to Hong Kong without obtaining the required State Department licenses in advance. He also failed to file the required export information in the Department of Commerce’s Automated Export System, which was designed to prevent shipments to unauthorized destinations or end users.

 

This investigation was conducted jointly by DOT-OIG, the Department of Defense OIG, and the FBI.