OneFlight International, a charter broker that sells private flights to clients, then arranges those flights with pilots, “intentionally concealed and suppressed” information about the company’s financial condition and pushed customers to make non-refundable deposits, the lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleges.
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The company used that money, including about $780,000 deposited by California resident Jeremy Ricks, to pay off existing obligations to earlier customers, vendors and charter operations, instead of saving the funds for future flights, the lawsuit alleges.
Ricks had used about $200,000 worth of flights when the company last week announced it had paused flight activity for at least 30 days or “until further notice” and scrubbed much of its online presence. He doesn’t expect OneFlight to resume operations, and is suing the company for the remaining $580,000 that was “fraudulently obtained from him,” the lawsuit states.
The company’s chief executive officer, Ferren Rajput; its vice president of sales, Mark Dismuke; and a sales agent, John Crandall, were also named in the lawsuit.
An attorney listed as legal counsel for OneFlight, Rajput, Dismuke and Crandall could not be reached for comment before publication.
Ricks made four large deposits with the company beginning in May 2025 and was told each time, by either Dismuke or Crandall, that the company was in good financial shape, according to the lawsuit.
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OneFlight used some of the money deposited by Ricks and other customers to fund high-profile sports sponsorships, including a sponsorship of a Formula 1 racing team and the Professional Golfers Association Tour, the lawsuit alleges. In May, OneFlight offered a $250,000 flight credit to that event’s winning golfer.
After the beginning of the 2026 conflict between the United States and Iran in late February, the cost of air travel and charter operations rose, “causing immediate adverse financial consequences for OneFlight,” the lawsuit alleges. The pre-paid flight hours were sold at a fixed rate and couldn’t account for rising costs.
In June, about three months before the company announced its pause, OneFlight advertised a promotion promising 40% off all flights for two years, the lawsuit states.
Ricks believed the promotion was “too good to be true,” so he called Crandall and asked how OneFlight could afford the deal. Crandall told Ricks the company was “doing great,” referenced the company’s sponsorships and urged Ricks to make a deposit quickly because there were only a few spots left, the lawsuit alleges. Ricks deposited $150,000.
At least $1.5 million in pre-paid flights were unfulfilled when the company announced its closure, the lawsuit alleges.
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Ricks’ attorneys declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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