Exec Jet Club closes Florida operations

Dec 20, 2014 News

OCALA, Florida (gainesville.com)- A charter airline and aircraft maintenance company based in Gainesville

Charged with smuggling cash: Guyanese pilot, Khamraj Lall

and serving Ocala, has closed its doors nearly a month after federal authorities arrested its CEO in Puerto Rico, with more than $600,000 in undeclared cash aboard a private plane.
Exec Jet Club is not conducting any operations at Gainesville Regional Airport but does have at least one employee at the Gainesville location, Laura Aguiar, the airport’s public relations and governmental affairs manager, said on Thursday.
Aguiar said Exec Jet Club is still the legal lease holder on its hangar and is up to date in its rent.
“There is a subtenant using a portion of the hangar,” she wrote in an e-mail. “The airport’s attorneys are reviewing the lease to determine potential impacts regarding the subtenant and the building’s owner, which is RD Air. We are waiting to hear more from Exec Jet Club regarding future plans.”
Exec Jet Club also had an operation at Ocala International Airport.
“It was almost entirely the maintenance component,” said Matt Grow, airport director. “They didn’t run any of their charters out of Ocala. At least, I’ve never seen them do it. Most of those charters were run out of Gainesville Airport.”
Grow said Landmark Aviation, Exec Jet Club’s landlord in Ocala, notified him that the company shut its doors.
“One of (Exec Jet Club’s) employees, who’s been on the airport for quite a while, is basically taking over the maintenance operation on a month-to-month basis until we can figure out exactly what we want to do,” Grow said.
Khamraj ‘Kem’ Lall, CEO and head of operations for Exec Jet Club, was arrested after customs officials allegedly found $620,000 inside plastic bags, a blanket and garbage bags aboard a private plane that landed in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, on November 22.
Federal law requires the declaration of sums of money aboard aircraft exceeding $10,000 and allegedly, Lall first told federal officials he had $5,000.
Initially charged with smuggling bulk cash, Lall was later indicted by a grand jury and is facing seizure of his properties in the US and in Guyana, if prosecutors have their way.

The maintenance facilities of Exec Jet Club in Gainesville, Florida. It has reportedly closed operations.

On Thursday, a man answered the number listed for Exec Jet Club in Gainesville, not with the name of the business but with “hello.” When asked if it was the correct number for the company he replied, “Yes it is.”
When asked about the status of Exec Jet Club, the man replied “No comment on that. Can’t speak to the newspaper. Thank you.”
According to the Exec Jet Club website, Lall is a Guyanese businessman and pilot who came to the U.S. 30 years ago. In addition to its operations at Gainesville and Ocala, Exec Jet Club also operated out of Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Timehri, Guyana.
Officials at Exec Jet Club’s Guyana location did not respond to a request for comment on the status of its operations.
Lall’s arrest has sparked a political firestorm in Guyana. President Donald Ramotar had used Exec Jet Club three times for state visits.
The company, which also operates a limousine service and has a hangar facility at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, controls Kaylee’s gas station at Coverden, a few miles away.
Back in Florida, Grow, of Ocala International Airport, said he contacted the city attorney as soon as he heard of Lall’s arrest.
“I didn’t want them on the airport,” he said. “I didn’t want to have any part of it. We were looking for ways to terminate this agreement, but he saved us attorney’s fees and headaches when he did it for us,” Grow said. “I’m glad that we’re moving beyond that and have the opportunity to do something different and, hopefully, better.”