Stefan R.R. Gillier, Aircraft Parts Fraud, New York 2023

Grimy Times has learned that Stefan Gillier, the former president of international aircraft parts distributor RTF International Inc., has been sentenced to 84 months in prison for his role in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme. Gillier, also known as Stephan Gillier, Stefan R.R. Gillier, Roland Gillier, and Roland Van Gorp, was convicted in September 2022 following a one-week jury trial in Manhattan federal court.

The scheme, which obtained over $6 million worth of aircraft parts from Honeywell International, Inc. and Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions, Inc., involved Gillier signing checks and causing stop payment orders to be placed after the parts were shipped to RTF. He repeatedly used the alias ‘Roland Van Gorp’ to falsely represent the stop payment orders as misunderstandings with the bank.

According to court documents, Gillier was able to obtain over $6 million worth of aircraft parts without paying for them. He caused various large transfers of fraud proceeds into bank accounts controlled by him, his relatives, and a co-conspirator. Gillier left the United States for Canada in June 2006.

After Honeywell discovered the scheme, Gillier and his co-conspirator continued their fraud through a new corporate entity, UN Air Services, Inc. UAS began obtaining aircraft parts from Pratt & Whitney and stopped payment on checks after the parts were delivered. Gillier was arrested and extradited from Italy in 2019.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Williams said, ‘With today’s sentence, Stefan Gillier’s aircraft parts fraud scheme has been grounded. Those who flee justice will be held accountable for their crimes, no matter how long it takes.’

Gillier, 49, a citizen of Belgium, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dina McLeod, Micah F. Fergenson, and Michael Neff are in charge of the prosecution.

Grimy Times will continue to monitor this case and provide updates as more information becomes available.

Related Federal Cases