Crashed Florida jet registered to same address as Trump, Clinton businesses - Newsweek

A private plane that crashed into a Florida neighborhood on Sunday had been registered to a Delaware-based limited liability company that has links to thousands of businesses, including ventures run by President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, records show.

Authorities said the aircraft, a Learjet 60, slammed into a Palm Beach County roadway at about 12:50 p.m. Sunday, killing all nine people on board. The fixed-wing, multiengine jet—tail number N722BD—departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and crashed while heading to the Bahamas, airport officials confirmed to Newsweek.

"The only other information we can confirm is that this was a general aviation flight and not a commercial flight," Austin-Bergstrom International Airport spokesman Jim Reynolds wrote in a message early Monday. "We do not have access to information regarding passenger and crew identity, aircraft history, ownership and operator of the aircraft."

Federal Aviation Administration records indicate the jet had been registered to a limited liability company, LR60271 LLC, at 1209 N. Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware. It is a popular corporate address used by thousands of firms, largely due to Delaware's beneficial business tax and privacy laws.

FAA records indicate the Learjet 60 had been registered in January 2023, with an expiration date of January 2030.

The White House referred inquiries to the Trump Organization, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday afternoon.

Newsweek has reached out to the Clinton Foundation.

Known as the Corporation Trust Center (CTC), the two-story brick building serves as a registered address for some of the largest companies in the world, including Apple, eBay, Walmart, Verizon, American Airlines and more than 300,000 other corporations. More than half of Fortune 500 companies have an address registered in Delaware and the state hosts more than 1 million business entity registrations, Business Insider previously reported.

In 2016, The Guardian reported extensively on the address, noting that both candidates for president—Trump and Clinton—had companies registered at the address.

Just eight days after leaving her role as secretary of state in February 2013, Clinton had registered ZFS Holdings LLC at CTC's offices, while former President Bill Clinton had previously set up WJC LLC to collect consultation fees in 2008, The Guardian reported.

In 2014, Hillary Clinton collected more than $16 million in public speaking fees and book royalties through the LLC at the center, The Guardian reported, citing the Clintons' tax return.

The site also serves as the registered address for several Trump companies, including Trump International Management Corp and several firms within Hudson Waterfront Associates, a partnership to develop luxury condos in Manhattan.

Of some 515 companies on Trump's official Federal Election Commission filing in 2016, 378 had been registered in Delaware, The Guardian previously reported.

The address is also cited more than 100 times in the Department of Justice's files on late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Technically Media reported in February. The reporting noted that some Epstein-related entities had been incorporated in Delaware and used the building as a registered-agent address, but there were no indications of whether any business was related to the alleged activities described in the records.

National Transportation Safety Board officials held a media briefing about the crash on Monday in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

The co-pilot of the plane has been identified as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, who obtained her pilot license in high school, the New York Post reported. None of the other victims have been confirmed and the circumstances of the crash remain under investigation.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters Sunday at the crash site that there were no reports of additional injuries.

"It was a cataclysmic plane crash," he said. "It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road."

The aircraft had been heading east at about 35,000 feet when pilots encountered turbulence, icing and precipitation, soon requesting to climb another 2,000 feet. The plane then started diving moments later, up to 30,000 feet per minute at one point, according to air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data.

A pilot who declared an emergency then reported ice accumulating on the jet and heavy turbulence, jolting the aircraft as much as 700 feet, data shows.

"We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence," the pilot told controllers.

National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman urged anyone with photos or videos of Sunday’s incident to contact federal investigators via email. He also asked residents not to touch debris and instead report any finds to local authorities.

Chapman declined to speculate on a cause, but acknowledged that investigators were looking into whether ice and turbulence factored into the deadly crash. Evidence indicates parts of the plane broke off the aircraft prior to impact.

"We’re in the very early stages here in the investigation," he told reporters during a press conference Monday.

In addition to the nine people aboard the jet, one victim suffered an injury to his leg during Monday's crash, Chapman said. His condition was not immediately available.

Investigators are now analyzing a debris field roughly a half-mile wide by four-tenths of a mile.

"We’re finding debris, but we haven't identified parts yet," Chapman said.

It's unclear when residents near the crash site will be able to return home, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said, adding that authorities had evacuated residents from roughly 77 mobile homes in the area.

"Our concern right now is clearing the scene so that our residents can get back to normal," Flores told reporters Monday. "We don’t really have a timeline as to when they are going to be able to comb through all the evidence and do everything they need to do, and that leaves our community looking for answers."

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Geoffrey Rowland.