Plane Crash in Florida Involves Delaware-Registered Aircraft

A private aircraft crashed in a Florida neighborhood on Sunday. The Learjet 60, registered to a Delaware-based limited liability company, was linked to numerous businesses, including ventures run by President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to records.

The crash occurred on a Palm Beach County roadway around 12:50 p.m. Sunday, resulting in the deaths of all nine onboard. The jet, with the tail number N722BD, departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was bound for the Bahamas, as confirmed by airport officials speaking to Newsweek.

The only other information we can confirm is that this was a general aviation flight and not a commercial flight,

wrote Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, early Monday. Information on passenger identities, aircraft history, ownership, and operators remains unavailable.

Federal Aviation Administration records show the jet was registered to LR60271 LLC, located at 1209 N. Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware. This address is a popular corporate location, favored due to Delaware’s business tax benefits and privacy laws. The Learjet 60 registration was filed in January 2023, set to expire in January 2030.

The White House directed inquiries to the Trump Organization, which did not immediately comment on Monday afternoon. Newsweek reached out to the Clinton Foundation for details.

The Corporation Trust Center (CTC) at the Delaware address serves as a registered office for prominent companies including Apple, eBay, Walmart, and Verizon. Over 300,000 corporations maintain registrations there, with more than half of Fortune 500 companies using a Delaware address. Delaware hosts upwards of 1 million registered business entities, as reported by Business Insider.

In 2016, The Guardian reported that Trump and Clinton had companies registered at this address. Hillary Clinton established ZFS Holdings LLC at CTC shortly after stepping down as Secretary of State in February 2013. Former President Bill Clinton had previously set up WJC LLC to manage consultation fees in 2008. Hillary Clinton reported over $16 million in speaking fees and book royalties through this LLC in 2014, according to The Guardian.

Several Trump companies also list the address, including Trump International Management Corp and Hudson Waterfront Associates, which develops luxury condos in Manhattan. Of the 515 companies on Trump’s 2016 official Federal Election Commission filing, 378 registered in Delaware, per The Guardian’s report.

The address appears over 100 times in the Department of Justice’s files concerning the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Some Epstein-related entities were incorporated in Delaware with the building as their registered-agent address, but no business connections to alleged activities were indicated.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board are set to hold a media briefing regarding the crash in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. The briefing is expected to provide details about the investigation process.

The co-pilot, identified as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, earned her pilot license in high school, the New York Post reported. Other victims have not been confirmed, and investigations into the crash are ongoing.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, speaking at the crash site, noted there were no reports of additional injuries from the crash.

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.

During its eastbound flight at approximately 35,000 feet, the plane encountered turbulence, icing, and precipitation. Pilots requested permission to ascend an additional 2,000 feet. The aircraft then experienced a rapid descent, reaching a speed of 30,000 feet per minute at one juncture, as evidenced by air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data.

A pilot, declaring an emergency, reported ice accumulation on the jet along with severe turbulence causing the aircraft to jolt by up to 700 feet, according to the data.

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

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