Hundreds of people clad in black-tie attire filled a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Denver late last year to celebrate and revel in a Colorado startup’s success.
Billed as an “evening of excellence,” the event was attended by people who worked for OneFlight International, a private jet broker based at the Centennial Airport. The company touted its services as a way to fly private without the cost and hassle of owning a plane.
The Dec. 6 gala, though, resembled nothing like the average holiday work party. Guests included some of the company’s celebrity brand ambassadors: Ben Stiller, Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell. Vanna White made an appearance.
The Blue Man Group performed, while “Shark Tank” judge Kevin O’Leary awarded custom Rolex watches to two lucky attendees.
“This company is the embodiment of the American dream,” one of the night’s speakers said, according to a slickly produced video commemorating the event that the company posted to YouTube.
But beneath the opulent veneer stood a firm just months away from financial collapse.
Nearly a dozen lawsuits filed by customers in the past month allege the company and its CEO, Ferren Rajput, operated the business like a classic Ponzi scheme — a form of fraud in which a firm pays existing investors with funds collected from new ones.
Surging operating costs this year and frequent, unsustainable promotions left the company increasingly insolvent, the lawsuits contend. Despite these dire financial realities, however, OneFlight continued to hire more employees and aggressively pursue new business in a desperate effort to keep the lights on, six former employees told The Denver Post.
Rajput previously served time in federal prison for tax evasion, and court records show he has repeatedly been sued for not paying bills, taxes and rent. Former workers say Rajput directed everything at the company, down to the smallest detail, and grew obsessed with his image and proximity to the rich and famous.
Finally, last month, OneFlight abruptly announced on its website that it was “pausing all flight activity for the next 30 days, or until further notice, while we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of our current operations and status.”
Former staff, though, said their office at the airport in Englewood is now empty. Workers received their final paychecks last month, nine days late. OneFlight, they said, no longer exists.
Since OneFlight’s implosion last month, its celebrity ambassadors and sports league partners — including the PGA Tour and a Formula 1 team — have distanced themselves from the company.
“There’s no coming back from this,” said one former OneFlight worker, who, like several other employees, spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure agreements or feared career consequences. “There’s nothing there.”
The Post compiled this story through interviews with six former OneFlight workers and a review of hundreds of pages of federal lawsuits and other court records, as well as videos posted to the company’s YouTube channel.
“The purpose of (OneFlight’s) extensive marketing efforts was to inspire public trust and confidence in (the company’s) brand and project the image of a thriving corporate enterprise, when, in reality, unbeknownst to its customers, they were subsidizing (OneFlight’s) extravagance with their prepaid funds,” a Connecticut customer alleged in a September lawsuit.
Rajput could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Michael Song, declined an interview request and did not respond to a list of questions from The Post.
A ‘shameful period’
Rajput started OneFlight International in 2010, just two years after getting out of prison.
In 2006, he pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to pay taxes while running a Colorado-based mortgage brokerage company, Altus Financial Inc.
Rajput admitted to spending tax money collected from his employees to help build a $3 million home for his family. The Internal Revenue Service, at the time, said it was one of the larger tax-delinquency cases prosecuted in Colorado.
Rajput told the judge he planned to pay the money back, but that business stalled. He eventually defaulted on the construction contract and lost the house.
“I was extremely optimistic… I was under the impression I would do extremely well with my business. Unfortunately, that never happened,” Rajput told the judge in 2006.
“You used money you didn’t have a right to use to get further in debt,” the judge said.
“Yes, your honor,” Rajput responded. “It was absolutely a stupid move.”
In a letter to the court before his sentencing, Rajput’s attorney said his client “allowed his greed to overcome his values and good business sense. In his desire to lead an extravagant lifestyle, he got deeper and deeper into a hole from which he could never emerge.”
The lawyer called this a “shameful period” in Rajput’s life, one that has taught him a lot about himself.
“It is entirely unlikely that Mr. Rajput will ever commit a crime again,” the attorney wrote. “Indeed, Mr. Rajput is one of the most contrite and truly sorry defendants that undersigned counsel has ever represented.”
After 16 months in federal prison, Rajput reentered society in November 2008.
Glitz, growth and prestige
With OneFlight, Rajput intended to revolutionize private jet travel by offering people the chance to experience the luxury of private flying without the cost and hassle of owning a plane. The company’s motto: “You don’t need to OWN, you just need to FLY.”
The company operated much like a country club: Members paid yearly dues to utilize OneFlight’s services, with tiered options ranging from $15,000 to $40,000.
The company’s Book a Jet program resembled Uber — only for private jets. The app allowed customers to pay less than standard industry rates through a partnership with more than 700 aircraft charters and a network of 7,000 private jets.
“Private jet travel used to be just for the super rich,” Rajput once told an Arizona TV station. “It’s not that anymore.”
Depending on the size of the plane, customers could fly private for as little as $3,800 an hour on a turboprop plane, according to a pricing list on an archived version of the company’s website. Heavy jets, which could accommodate up to 16 passengers, started at $11,800 per hour.
OneFlight wasn’t just selling flights on private jets — it was offering a luxury experience and the opportunity to interact with the rich and famous.
These perks included catered meals, executive car service, special events and, importantly, celebrity connections with the company’s roster of brand ambassadors.
Actors Courteney Cox, Jason Bateman and Owen Wilson all featured in OneFlight’s marketing materials. “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec filmed commercials and promo spots for the company, saying in one that he used OneFlight because time is the “greatest commodity in life.”
One brochure touted the company’s Celebrity Connection program, which allowed certain members to enjoy one-on-one sessions with brand ambassadors. The photo above the description showed Denver Broncos legend John Elway mingling on a plane with Rajput.
Brand ambassadors received reduced membership fees and discounted flights through OneFlight.
The company also served as a co-title sponsor for a PGA Tour golf tournament in South Carolina — the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic — and was tapped as the official private aviation partner of Tiger Woods’ TGL Golf League. In January, the company became an official sponsor of the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team.
Rajput spared no expense for the annual galas, which employees estimated cost in the millions.
Red carpets. Ice sculptures. Celebrities. Performances from Cirque du Soleil.
The CEO used the events to announce the employee of the year award. The prize? $10,000 and the chance to drive the company’s OneFlight-branded Maserati sports car for the year.
“The galas were like showing up to an Oscar party,” said Jonathan Bingham, a former employee.
Others said it felt like Rajput wanted to be a character in his own movie. His Instagram account displays photos of him in a tuxedo as a dinner guest with Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco. In the comments, the actor John Stamos replied, “Beautiful!!”
In other photos, Rajput posed with professional golfers, former NFL star Michael Strahan and the CEO of McLaren’s F1 racing team, Zak Brown.
“He always wanted to live like the wealthy, the rich and the famous,” said another former OneFlight employee.
Publicly, Rajput extolled his company’s rapid growth.
Three years in a row on Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies list. Revenue growth of 97%.
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In January, OneFlight reported record-setting performance in 2025, with $232 million in total revenue — up from $122 million in 2024. Rajput attributed this growth to the golf partnerships and the company’s growing footprint in Europe.
“Private aviation is no longer confined by borders,” Rajput said in a news release trumpeting that growth. “By combining strategic partnerships, disciplined growth and international capability, we are positioning ONEflight as a truly global private aviation leader.”
‘It’s a Ponzi scheme’
Privately, though, employees began seeing red flags as the company’s financial picture worsened earlier this year.
Multiple staffers told The Post they had paychecks bounce when they went to deposit money in recent years, or witnessed company credit cards declined while purchasing fuel or other work expenses. Others saw invoices go unpaid.
Meanwhile, OneFlight’s frequent promotional sales simply didn’t add up, said Bingham, a former flight quality specialist and assistant flight coordinator at the company.
He could see the operators’ accounts and all the bids coming in for the flights — and the numbers just didn’t make sense.
“Most of the flights were in the red,” Bingham said in an interview.
That’s because OneFlight operated with a fixed-pricing model in an industry with serious volatility, he said. A three-hour flight sold at $19,000 actually cost $33,000, or a $14,000 difference. Multiply that loss by the number of clients and Bingham couldn’t see how the company wasn’t bleeding boatloads of money.
“It’s a Ponzi scheme,” he said.
Lawsuits filed against OneFlight contend that the company’s financial picture worsened early this year, as charter costs increased significantly while the business’s obligations to its customers remained tied to previously established hourly rates. Fuel costs have soared since the beginning of the U.S. war against Iran in February, leading to escalating expenses across the aviation industry.
These rising operating costs, combined with mounting prepaid flight obligations, rendered OneFlight “increasingly insolvent,” attorneys alleged in one lawsuit filed this month.
Former employees say Rajput focused much of his attention on the sales department. Whatever they sold, it was never enough.
The CEO made all the decisions for the company, down to the smallest details, ex-workers said.
“That’s his whole game, to have complete control,” said the former employee who spoke about Rajput’s relationship to the rich and famous. Others said he always believed that he was the smartest person in every room.
Several former OneFlight staffers said they saw warning signs several years ago. Employees in the accounting department didn’t have access to certain documents, such as profit and loss statements or balance sheets, which are commonplace at other businesses, said a former worker with knowledge of the department’s workings.
Rajput paid off an American Express card $200,000 at a time to stay below the $1 million limit, this employee said. By 2024, “that place was a mess financially,” they added.
“They were bringing money in. They couldn’t pay their bills,” the former employee said. “It didn’t make any sense.”
Even with these red flags, former employees said it was hard to leave the company because they were paid so well.
At the beginning, Rajput’s criminal history made it difficult to make sales, former staffers said. He slipped in the disclosure at the end of employee trainings, and multiple workers said they believed he wouldn’t do it again.
“We all thought he would have learned his lesson from when he did go to prison,” one of the former staffers said. “We were like, ‘Well, there’s no way he would risk that again. Everything must be on the up-and-up.’”
Scrambling at the end
OneFlight, until the very end, gave its customers and employees no indication of the true state of the company’s finances, according to lawsuits and worker interviews.
In fact, company representatives grew increasingly desperate to retain and increase business.
In one March message to a member, a OneFlight executive said the CEO had approved a new, limited-time promotion. A $100,000 deposit would mean $200,000 in flying credits — but only one customer could claim the offer.
“I would honestly take this offering,” Waqas Nawaz, the OneFlight representative, told the member, Gregory Deal, in an exchange included in Deal’s October lawsuit. “I won’t have it again, Greg.”
Another member, in a separate lawsuit, said the company’s offers followed the same pattern: OneFlight promised to match the client’s cash deposit dollar for dollar with “free” flight credits, but only if they paid within two days.
OneFlight “used these time-limited offers to accelerate the inflow of new customer cash, which (the company) needed to fund its operations and to satisfy obligations owed to earlier customers,” the lawsuit alleged.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, OneFlight was scrambling.
In August, the company canceled its brand ambassador deals with celebrities and golfers, the former worker who spoke of Rajput’s prison time said.
Around the same time, Elway sent the firm a cease-and-desist order after finding his picture still on OneFlight’s website, the same employee said. Elway’s representatives did not return messages from The Post.
Still, even with these signs, some employees said they were blindsided by the company’s rapid downfall.
Just days before OneFlight shuttered operations, the company hired 10 additional people.
“It was like, ‘Oh, maybe this is a rough time, but everything he shows us indicates it’s gonna be fine,” the former staffer said of Rajput.
On Sept. 10, the trade publication Private Jet Comparisons reported the contents of a resignation letter from a concierge coordinator, Halyee Hilton. In the email, Hilton said, “The team deserves honesty and, regarding OneFlight’s financial and operational position … we continue to experience difficulties paying operators, and in doing so are damaging relationships with trusted operators and clients alike.”
Hilton did not return messages from The Post seeking comment.
In a reply email to staff, the vice president for human resources, Ruby Dalton, acknowledged “financial and operational issues,” but said these developments are “not new to leadership” and had been communicated openly. Meaningful progress was underway, Dalton wrote, while Rajput was “taking the necessary steps to strengthen OneFlight’s financial position and long-term sustainability.”
Rajput told Private Jet Comparisons that the company was on track for a significant revenue increase this year.
“We are sound,” the CEO said in the article. “It’s business as usual.”
Six days later, OneFlight took down most of its website, removed its social media accounts and posted its message about pausing operations.
Up until the day before its collapse, Deal had been in contact with OneFlight’s concierge coordinator to arrange catering for his private flight, he alleged in his lawsuit. On Sept. 16, he and his wife were packed and waiting to be picked up for a flight from Minnesota to Florida.
The plane never arrived. Deal, who declined an interview request, said in his lawsuit that nobody from OneFlight told him about the cancellation or the company’s dire financial woes.
Since the company’s collapse, at least 10 lawsuits have been filed against OneFlight and Rajput, with customers alleging losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The complaints all make the same assertions: The company’s actions — using new customer deposits to fund existing obligations to earlier vendors — represent “hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.”
The PGA Tour last week said it had severed its relationship with OneFlight amid the accusations. McLaren suspended its sponsorship.
It’s not clear whether any criminal investigations have been opened into the company or its operators. The FBI declined to comment.
Johannes Uys, listed as the chief financial officer on the company’s website as recently as May, is in immigration detention in Aurora. Uys was arrested in July on domestic violence-related charges, court records show.
For Rajput, it all came down to image, former workers said. And even at the end, as it all crumbled around him, he still projected confidence that the company had never been better.
“He wanted to be a living legend,” said the employee who spoke about Rajput’s relationship to the rich and famous. “He wanted it all.”
Denver Post staff writer Celia Frazier contributed to this report.
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