Tomer Osovitzki, 42, of Aventura, Florida, is grounded for good — behind bars on federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after allegedly orchestrating a $2.1 million scam that exploited private jet charters, fake credit approvals, and stolen client data. The self-styled aviation broker used forged authorization codes and ghosted credit cards to force through unauthorized payments, leaving a trail of declined transactions and furious vendors in his wake.
Osovitzki, founder and president of a private charter brokerage firm, allegedly manipulated the financial pipeline by feeding merchants fraudulent codes, claiming they came from the issuing Credit Card Company. In reality, the cards — issued in his name, his wife’s, and his mother’s — had either been canceled or were long past their limits. By pushing these so-called ‘force-post’ transactions, Osovitzki tricked charter companies into releasing flights they’d never get paid for. The scheme ran from March 2017 to March 2018, collapsing under the weight of its own paper trail.
But the fraud didn’t stop there. Osovitzki’s company also dipped into customer accounts, charging over $1.3 million in flights clients never booked, never approved, and never took. In at least one case, Osovitzki was a passenger on a flight billed to someone else’s card. Prosecutors say this wasn’t oversight — it was theft masked as business, with victims ranging from individual clients to financial institutions and aviation operators stretched across the country.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman didn’t mince words: ‘As alleged, Tomer Osovitzki manipulated the approval system for credit cards to push charges through that he knew were unauthorized and would have been declined. Now, Osovitzki and his company are grounded and he must answer for his crimes.’ The case was unsealed in the Southern District of New York, with Osovitzki arrested in Florida and presented in federal court there.
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. emphasized the agency’s relentless pursuit of financial predators: ‘There were victims harmed by Osovitzki’s alleged scheme, since he used his clients’ credit cards to pay for flights they didn’t purchase. Fraudsters seem to forget there is a paper trail when it comes to financial transactions — and they will eventually get caught.’ The investigation was a joint effort between the FBI, NYPD, and federal prosecutors.
NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill called the case a stark warning: ‘These charges reflect how eager criminals are to exploit a victim’s personal information and profit through fraud.’ With cooperation across agencies, law enforcement sent a clear message — no amount of smoke and mirrors can hide from a federal indictment. Osovitzki now faces years behind bars if convicted on all counts.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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