Federal prosecutors want to force sale of Leawood payday loan mogul Scott Tucker’s Learjet

A federal judge in New York will consider whether to allow the government to sell a private jet belonging to indicted Leawood businessman Scott Tucker.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York told a judge presiding over Tucker’s criminal case that they worry that his private jet will lose value because Tucker stopped paying for maintenance and storage in an aircraft hangar.

Tucker’s 1994 Learjet Model 60 is part of a restraining order filed against his bank accounts and property. A grand jury in February indicted Tucker on charges of unlawfully collecting debt and racketeering in connection to his payday loan businesses.

Investigators believe Tucker incorporated payday loan businesses on tribal reservations, which aren’t subject to state laws that set limits on interest rates charged on short-term credit, but actually ran his companies out of an office building in Overland Park.

Tucker, who also raced cars professionally, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Tucker’s indictment included a $2 billion forfeiture action filed against Tucker, a figure that prosecutors believe represents revenue Tucker’s payday companies made between 2003 and 2012. If Tucker is found guilty, authorities hope they can pay restitution to victims through money and property forfeited by Tucker.

Tucker registered his Learjet with the Federal Aviation Administration in 2008 through ST Capital LLC, one of his business entities.

According to court filings Wednesday, Tucker had a contract with SpiritJets LLC in Chesterfield, Mo., to keep his jet in its hangar at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport, a general aviation airport in St. Louis County.

On April 20, an executive with SpiritJets sent a letter to Tucker informing him that the company terminated the contract because Tucker hadn’t paid his hangar fees and let his insurance on the Learjet lapse. The letter added that the company planned to move the jet outside the hangar, where it would be exposed to the elements.

Tucker, according to Wednesday’s court filing, has neither the intention nor the ability to pay past due fees or ongoing maintenance. Tucker’s assets were frozen by a court order in separate legal proceedings involving the Federal Trade Commission.

Federal prosecutors said in its request to federal judge Kevin Castel that the Learjet will diminish in value without storage or maintenance and requested an order to let the Internal Revenue Service sell the aircraft for the best deal it could find.

The filing added that Tucker wanted to sell the jet to SpiritJets but proposed a sale price well below its appraised value with an agreement that SpiritJets would forgive Tucker’s past due balances.

Wednesday’s court filing does not disclose the Learjet’s value. An online marketplace for private jets listed a similar and slightly older aircraft for sale at $1.4 million.

James Roth, a New York attorney appointed by the court to represent Tucker, said it remains to be determined whether Tucker plans to contest the government’s request.

Tucker remains free on bond and is set to go to trial on April 17, 2017.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Federal prosecutors want to force sale of Leawood payday loan mogul Scott Tucker’s Learjet."