I recently posted this warning announcement below about Lou Sapienza the Conman of Aviation. In the meantime several pilots and aviation industry folks have contacted me on email and over the phone to tell me some worse and horrific stuff on him. I won't outline it here because it is technically second hand, but I don't doubt it for a. minute. One person just alerted me to his "GOFUNDME" page, so I advise anyone considering giving him money to use caution before contributing. Do you homework first.
Go Fund Me page referenced:
C A U T I O N !
Click here for the above GOFUNDME link if you are curious to investigate.
Here below is the warning that I had posted to Facebook:
BEWARE OF THIS MAN WHO IS STILL MANEUVERING WITHIN OUR AVIATION COMMUNITY. His latest con was recently absconding with $12,500.00 from the fund for the search mission for the lost 1945 vintage Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber N337VT. Context of the overall airplane crash story is written here: https://tbmavenger.blogspot.com/2018/06/tbm-avenger-lost-in-white-mountains-of.html
We just wanted to give the heads up to the aviation and aircraft archaeology community so that hopefully this does not happen to anyone else. We not only lost a lot of money, but damage was done, including that fact that the overall search schedule was severely compromised.
His name is Lou Sapienza and you will still find him even now working and soliciting within some of the Facebook aviation groups. We have recently become aware of others in the aviation community who have now come forward and have contacted us to describe how they too were taken advantage of from Lou’s now familiar pattern of unscrupulous methods. The descriptions which they have provided to us fit a similar pattern to what he did to our team. Our situation is described here below:
Late last year of 2019, Lou was hired to lead the search efforts for the noted vintage Grumman TBM Avenger. We should have stopped working with Lou right from the beginning as bad signs popped up early. His first step was a troubling attempt to manipulate his contract by cunningly trying to slide through misrepresentations in order to draw out much more money than was agreed and allocated for. These items were luckily all identified and uncovered, quickly resolved, and then he was (with some pause and hesitation) hired. Lou spent the next two months doing practically nothing. Not only did Lou take all of the money which which was provided upfront and not earned, but he damaged the entire process by delaying the schedule to such a point that no aerial surveys could be executed before the end of that year. Snowfall in the mountains had then commenced in the area where the missing WW2 airplane is presumed to be located. These searches were then not possible to execute, and delayed seven months until this coming spring of 2020.
And getting our money back? Or at least some of our money back? Oh no. We received an invoice from Lou the next day after being terminated for $12,517.00.
Which means we still owe Lou Sapienza $17 dollars! ———— Quite audacious.
If more of you have had these experiences, feel free to reach out to us. We will keep everything private and confidential. We are building a case now for possible legal action to recover our losses, and in the process hopefully help to prevent Lou from continuing to take advantage of good and honest people in our community like us.
We just wanted to give the heads up to the aviation and aircraft archaeology community so that hopefully this does not happen to anyone else. We not only lost a lot of money, but damage was done, including that fact that the overall search schedule was severely compromised.
His name is Lou Sapienza and you will still find him even now working and soliciting within some of the Facebook aviation groups. We have recently become aware of others in the aviation community who have now come forward and have contacted us to describe how they too were taken advantage of from Lou’s now familiar pattern of unscrupulous methods. The descriptions which they have provided to us fit a similar pattern to what he did to our team. Our situation is described here below:
Late last year of 2019, Lou was hired to lead the search efforts for the noted vintage Grumman TBM Avenger. We should have stopped working with Lou right from the beginning as bad signs popped up early. His first step was a troubling attempt to manipulate his contract by cunningly trying to slide through misrepresentations in order to draw out much more money than was agreed and allocated for. These items were luckily all identified and uncovered, quickly resolved, and then he was (with some pause and hesitation) hired. Lou spent the next two months doing practically nothing. Not only did Lou take all of the money which which was provided upfront and not earned, but he damaged the entire process by delaying the schedule to such a point that no aerial surveys could be executed before the end of that year. Snowfall in the mountains had then commenced in the area where the missing WW2 airplane is presumed to be located. These searches were then not possible to execute, and delayed seven months until this coming spring of 2020.
And getting our money back? Or at least some of our money back? Oh no. We received an invoice from Lou the next day after being terminated for $12,517.00.
Which means we still owe Lou Sapienza $17 dollars! ———— Quite audacious.
If more of you have had these experiences, feel free to reach out to us. We will keep everything private and confidential. We are building a case now for possible legal action to recover our losses, and in the process hopefully help to prevent Lou from continuing to take advantage of good and honest people in our community like us.