Unfortunately it is in German but the short version is Aircraft Guaranty Corporation CEO is in jail and can not sign papers.
https://www.pilotundflugzeug.de/artikel/2021-01-29/US-Trust_eingefroren
Amazing:
Aircraft Guaranty Corporation frozen, management in custody
The largest US trust for the registration of aircraft is in legal trouble: The assets of the Aircraft Guaranty Corporation (AGC) with over 1,000 aircraft are frozen by an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas. The company’s owner and manager, Debbie Mercer-Erwin, has been in custody since December 18, 2020. The aircraft registered on AGC are not automatically grounded, but sales are currently not possible, but a solution is currently emerging.
These trusts seem somewhat mom-and-pop outfits, while sometimes there are succession and contingency plans if the trustee is incapacitated (physically or legally), am not sure how robust they are. In theory in this scenario another trustee should have stepped in.
In theory, it’s ok to transfer assets to another “legal owner” trustee under various clauses but it’s not the case when justice orders are involved
On the “beneficiary owner” side, someone looking to sell an N-reg aircraft as of now, the other way around it is to sell his whole legal entity + aircraft asset (say aircraft owner by UK LC with nothing else other than aircraft & raft on its assets) but sale would not be possible for individual ownership as things go back to the trust with no one to sign or ink, USJD orders just can’t prevent the sale of a UK PLC/LLC/LTD…
Obviously, buying a company for sale is like a doctor looking for patients in a graveyard 
The certificate of registration is invalid if the US citizen ownership conditions are no longer met.
But being in jail doesn’t breach this. Getting stripped of citizenship / green card would breach it, as would dying (which happened with SAC some years ago, and was sorted out after a few days, by inheritance).
Presumably the reason you can’t sell the plane is because somebody in jail cannot sign the trust termination document. Is that really so? In a UK jail you should be able to sign stuff.
Most trusts are one-man bands. For bigger planes the structure is that 75% are some US lawyers (who are unlikely to all die, and if one does you just stick another one in there) and the other 25% is the beneficial owner. The BE then feels he has a bit of “control”. Those trusts cost a lot more.
Peter wrote:
For bigger planes the structure is that 75% are some US lawyers (who are unlikely to all die, and if one does you just stick another one in there) and the other 25% is the beneficial owner. The BE then feels he has a bit of “control”. Those trusts cost a lot more.
What you describe is not a trust, but a corporation or association.
Peter wrote:
Presumably the reason you can’t sell the plane is because somebody in jail cannot sign the trust termination document. Is that really so? In a UK jail you should be able to sign stuff.
According to the article, the problem is not “signing while in jail”, but that all assets have been frozen by order of (or request to a court of) an East Texas assistant district attorney.
This old article may be related.
https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2019/02/22/onalaska-texas-aircraft.html
Indeed it is old; about 10 years ago I sent to an FAA presentation on this and by then they wanted the details of every beneficial owner (Trustor in US-speak) so no more anonymous trusts. SAC complied with that back then and have done so ever since.
It funny talking about anonymous & national security on that article, every journalist or aircraft broker with more than two brain cells should be able to find the flying pilot & trustor names on any N-reg aircraft without even requesting details from the trust
Tracing money for AML affaires where expensive jets are used like prime real estate is a different story….
lionel wrote:
but that all assets have been frozen by order of (or request to a court of) an East Texas assistant district attorney.
Yes – and these events could potentially have much more impact on the trust model itself than most n-reg owners in Europe actually can imagine now.
According to various press reports, the core claim of the district attorney seems to be that the very business model of the trust enables Latam drug cartels to own and operate a fleet of US airplanes – a situation that should have been prevented exactly by the restriction of ownership to US citizens/corporations.
It’s quite early to tell but there is imho a risk that regulator will jump on this and realize that it was never intended to create an industry those whole purpose it is to sidestep a particular regulation.
