Connect-A-Jet.Com (fka CAJT)

[Stockdung]

=DJ IN THE MONEY:A Car Salesman, A Mtge Banker And Connect-A-Jet


Wednesday, September 19, 2007 11:14 AM

By Carol S. Remond
A Dow Jones Newswires Column

A car salesman and a mortgage banker are behind Connect-A-Jet.com Inc. (CAJT), a high-flying Pink Sheets company that claims it's about to become the first online booking platform for private jets.

The company's stock price jumped to about $3 a share in the last couple of weeks, giving it a stock market value of around $465 million. Pretty amazing for a company yet to start business, one bereft of information about its financials and insiders and one seeminly run by people who lack aviation or travel experience,

Connect-A-Jet became public through a merger with Venture Capital Inc., a corporate shell which last filed required information with the Security and Exchange Commission back in 1992.

From the time it began trading on Aug. 23, Connect-A-Jet stock has been heavily promoted through spam faxes and emails as well as advertisements on CNBC and in USA Today.

"Connect-A-Jet (CAJT): Set to Take Off," screamed two full page ads in the newspaper. "The missing piece in corporate aviation," "Join Early Investors and Buy CAJT Now Before the Rest of Wall Street Gets In," the ads went on.

Connect-A-Jet has also made big claims in a number of press releases, alleging deals or alliances with well-known and experienced private jet operators, including Executive Jet Management, a NetJets and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) company.

But some of the company's supposed partners told Dow Jones Newswires that they have nothing to do with Connect-A-Jet and have told the company to stop using their names. Others said they had agreed in principle to rent their jets to Connect-A-Jet when and if the company requested it, but have yet to do any business with the company.

"Our lawyers are talking to them. We are not doing business with them and didn't authorize them to use our name," said NetJets spokeswoman Maryann Aarsetti.

Meanwhile, Aviation Research Group/US Inc. President Joe Moeggenberg told Dow Jones that his company asked Connect-A-Jet to stop using its name on its Web site. Connect-A-Jet claims on its Web site that all operators affiliated with the company are reviewed by ARG/US.

What the ads, the spams or the corporate press releases didn't tell would-be-investors is that Connect-A-Jet is the brain child of Jason Wynn, an online entrepreneur who also happens to have paid for some of the promotional activity that spurred the company's stock price and trading volume.

According to information posted on his Web site http://www.wynnindustries.com, Wynn "was primarily focused on the automotive industry, selling new and slightly pre-owned luxury-high line vehicles to the public via the Internet." That information disappeared shortly after this reporter reached Wynn on his cell phone. Wynn's name and telephone number can still be found on online car ads.

Wynn told Dow Jones that he developed the Connect-A-Jet concept and sold it to Martin Cantu. Wynn said he couldn't remember when the sale took place and declined to say whether he sold any of his Connect-A-Jet shares. He said he's a consultant for the company and doesn't have anything to do with day-to-day operations.

According to disclaimers on the USA Today ads promoting Connect-A-Jet, Wynn Holdings paid $39,500 to Discovery Stocks to place these advertisements and others. "Wynn Holdings received 10 million shares (of Connect-A-Jet) stock that may be sold in the market at any time, without notice, for multiple purposes...," the disclaimers stated. The ads ran on Sept. 4 and Sept. 5.

Asked how Cantu's past professional experience as a mortgage banker and lawyer prepared him to run a private charter company, Wynn said Connect-A-Jet's chief executive officer has "plenty of aviation experience."

Martin Cantu and Susan Cantu, who is listed as company secretary on corporate information provided to Pink Sheets, didn't return several telephone calls seeking comment. Steve Clark, head of Discovery Stocks, the Texas-based stock promotion outfit hired by Wynn to hype Connect-A-Jet, didn't reply to an email seeking comment. Pink Sheets slapped a skull and bones warning sign on Connect-A-Jet's information page on http://www.pinksheets.com after it received a spam fax about the company.

Martin and Susan Cantu are both listed on Connect-A-Jet's April 27 incorporation document in Nevada.

According to information available online, Martin Cantu is a lawyer in good standing in Texas where he has been practicing since 1984. Connect-A-Jet's corporate address appears to be Cantu's law office. Court documents show that Cantu has in the past acted as a court appointed lawyer on several cases in that state.

It's unclear when Cantu transitioned to mortgage banking, but a 2005 press release from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that he and Specialized Financial Services Inc., doing business as SFM Mortgages Co., were sued for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by failing to timely remit $19,156 in employee contributions to the plan between Dec. 2001 and June 2002.

According to information filed with the SEC, Cantu is also president and CEO of Lion Capital Holdings Inc (LCHL) and CEO of Montview Equity Inc., itself the owner of Trian LLC, a mortgage banking firm.

In April, North Carolina's Commissioner of Banks suspended Trian's mortgage lender license, preventing the firm from doing business in that state after the surety bond securing its license was cancelled.

Trian and AFM Mortgage Bankers, another lender that appears to be controlled by Cantu, share the same address and telephone number as Connect-A-Jet.

Wynn referred all questions about Connect-A-Jet's operations to Cantu. Wynn acknowledged paying for the USA Today and CNBC advertisements but said he had nothing to do with spam emails and faxes. He said that part of his agreement with the company was to stay on as a consultant and help build investors awareness.

Wynn said he doesn't remember when Wynn Holdings LLC, the firm that paid Discovery Stocks, was created, but a state filing shows that the firm was registered in November 2006 in Minnesota.

An incorporation document shows Connect-a-Jet was registered in Texas in January 2007 with Wynn as managing member. Wynn's name also shows up on Connect-A-Jet's Internet registration. The address listed on that registration is that of AutoLink, a car dealership in Dallas. A woman answering the telephone at AutoLink said Wynn had been using "one of our offices" but moved out "about four months ago."

A link on Wynn Industries' Web site redirected visitors interested to learn more about Wynn Air LLC to Connect-A-Jet's Web site. The sites http://www.Wynnindustries.com and http://www.connectajet.com used similar plane images before Wynn Industries' Web site was slapped with a "We are doing maintenance on our site. Please check back soon" sign shortly after Dow Jones contacted Wynn about his role at Connect-A-Jet.

According to its Web site, Wynn Industries "integrated the concept of connecting people through the Internet using several companies: Wynn Air LLC, Wynn Vest LLC, Millennium Auto Collection and Beverly Hills Imports."

Wynn Vest on its Web site claims to want "to 're-invent' the way the world seeks and provides capital. In the very near future, people from all around the world will be able to obtain capital from many diverse sources through the utilization of this site." It's unclear whether the firm was ever involved in any deals.

Connect-A-Jet's stock, which began taking a tumble late last week, was recently trading at $1.99 share.


(Carol S. Remond is an award-winning columnist who won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2005 for best news service content with "Exposing Small-Cap fraud," a series of articles that described how three small companies unscrupulously pumped up their stocks.)

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-By Carol S. Remond; Dow Jones Newswires; 303 997 5783; [e-mail]


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-19-07 1114ET