Republican fundraiser cheats thousands in flight-school pyramid scheme

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Helicopter School Closes, Leaving Students in Lurch
(by Steve Friess, New York Times, February 13, 2008)

A helicopter flight training school run by a prominent Republican fund-raiser in Nevada has declared bankruptcy, leaving students in 18 states responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in uninsured student loans. The flight school, Silver State Helicopters, has declared bankruptcy, closing Feb. 4. Troy Swezey, is one of many students who financed his tuition by taking out private loans arranged by Silver State. He estimates he owes $200,000.
Now lawyers for several students say they plan to file lawsuits accusing the executive, Jerry Airola, of operating the flight school, Silver State Helicopters, which is based here, as a pyramid scheme that led to the company’s closing on Feb. 4.

The closing also forced the layoffs of 750 employees at 33 locations, and the bankruptcy declaration halted a binding-arbitration proceeding meant to settle the complaints of 40 students who filed an earlier lawsuit accusing the company of fraudulent business practices. Those students, along with dozens of others across the nation, are working with lawyers in an effort to pursue refunds of at least some of the tuition of about $70,000 that Silver State charged each student.

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Mr. Airola, who continued as chief executive officer and minority owner of the company after the Eos investment, did not return calls for comment. Days before the bankruptcy declaration, he was a host at a Nevada Republican Party fund-raiser here attended by President Bush.

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Mr. Airola is not new to controversy in Las Vegas. In 2006, he spent $4 million of his own money to run for Clark County sheriff, but he lost in a landslide when it was revealed that his claims of having been a police officer in California were false. Nonetheless, Mr. Airola remained a figure in the state’s Republican establishment, serving on the transition team of Gov. Jim Gibbons in late 2006. Last month, the governor appointed Mr. Airola to the Nevada Economic Development Advisory Board. A spokeswoman for the Mr. Gibbons said the governor was not rethinking that.

The Republican Party: crooks helping other crooks lie, steal money, and cheat people. Some "party".

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1. So is the big lesson here 'before doing business with anyone

for any reason, first check and make certain they aren't republicans. And run like hell if they're republican fund raisers'?

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2. Well, at least make sure they aren't *this* Republican. /nt