Bonza’s Financier Faces FBI Fraud Charges

By Andrew Curran.

Joshua Wander, the co-founder of 777 Partners, which played a starring role in the rise and fall of Australian low-cost airline Bonza, has been indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for fraud. The indictment, seen by Aero South Pacific, alleges Wander defrauded lenders and investors out of almost USD500 million.

777 Partners, which was originally in the business of underwriting and financing structured personal injury and lawsuit settlements, began investing in other sectors, including airlines, towards the end of last decade.

In 2018, 777 Partners bought into Canadian low-cost airline Flair. Several years later, it invested in Bonza, promising to provide enough capital and aircraft to keep it in the air. Ultimately, 777 Partners failed to provide enough of either, contributing to Bonza’s collapse in April 2024, just fourteen months after it started flying.

777 Partners' part in Bonza fiasco

In the aftermath, it emerged 777 Partners had starved Bonza of capital and reneged on promises to provide aircraft to give the airline enough capacity to turn a profit. 

Bonza abruptly ceased operations after lessors repossessed its four aircraft in late night airport raids. Wander, or entities he controlled, acted as the lessor for at least one of Bonza’s aircraft - he was a party to collapsing the airline he had helped start.

A Sydney court ordered Bonza’s liquidation three months after it ceased operations.

Shortly after, 777 Partners sold its interest in Flair, which continues to operate after narrowly avoiding bankruptcy around the same time as the Bonza fiasco.

The FBI’s indictment, which includes a single count of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, provides some insight into why Wander bailed on Bonza.

 

“By 2021, Wander had directed significant spending on 777 Partners’ increasingly expensive acquisitions,” the indictment reads. “Wander authorised multiple expenditures on these new ventures for which the firm lacked sufficient funding, and for which it was unable to secure financing.”

 

To support its airline investments, 777 Partners agreed to buy twenty-four B787-8s from Boeing, with options for another 60. Wander intended to put them to work flying for Flair and Bonza and lease others out to other airlines. The MAX 8s, while providing a comfortable ride, were ill-suited to many of the routes Bonza flew.

Among Wander’s alleged misdeeds was providing a lender with a list of structured settlements that 777 Partners claimed to own in order to raise USD10 million to make a down payment on that Boeing order. However, according to the FBI, 777 Partners did not own those settlements.

777 Partners unravels

The FBI's allegations revolve around 777 Partners misleading three lenders who provided the capital to keep the 777 enterprise afloat. The lenders provided credit facilities to support the structured settlement business, not other business activities. 

Aside from breaching the usage restriction, as 777 Partners’ financial situation became increasingly more desperate, the company falsified documents, committed collateral to more than one lender, and deliberately misrepresented company’s true financial situation to keep the cash coming in.

But as the lenders grew increasingly suspicious, the accounting at 777 Partners became increasingly creative. 

 

“In or around November 2022, representatives of Lender 1 notified 777 Partners that it intended to visit the firm’s office to conduct a diligence visit and verify that the credit facility was full collateralised,” the indictment says. “In advance of the visit, Wander instructed two financial analysts to at 777 Partners to access an internal database at 777 Partners and re-assign to Lender 1 millions of dollars of assets that had already been pledged to Lender 2. Wander informed the analysts that after Lender 1’s diligence visit, the analysts were to transfer the assets back to Lender 2.”

 

 

Microsoft Paint was also deployed to doctor documents.

Eventually, the lenders blew the whistle on 777 Partners. One lender, Leadenhall Capital Partners, went public, suing 777 Partners, and said it was “operating a giant shell game at best, and an outright Ponzi scheme at worst.”

Court calls time on 777 Partners

In October 2024, the UK High Court called time on 777 Partners. The court issued a winding up order and declared the company bankrupt.

 

“777 Partners still owes its lenders hundreds of millions of dollars,” the FBI’s indictment adds.

 

777 Partners’ former CFO, Damien Alfalla, has already pleaded guilty before a US District Court over his participation in the fraud scheme. Alfalla is cooperating with US authorities.

 

“As alleged, the defendants, through 777 Partners, lied to lenders and investors, double-pledged collateral, and used restricted funds to bankroll risky acquisitions, putting nearly USD500 million and the lifelines of structured-settlement beneficiaries at risk,” said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Ricky J. Patel.

 

“In actuality, the defendants put forth an illusion of stability that was a years-long house of cards,” he added. “This alleged scheme was self-serving, siphoning funds meant for victims and leaving investors and lenders holding the bag.”

 

Both gentlemen face identical charges. Three of the four charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment, while the conspiracy to commit securities fraud carries a maximum penalty of five years.

During an October 16, 2025, hearing shortly after surrendering to authorities, Wander pleaded not guilty. The court released him on a USD15 million bond, secured by a Miami property.

You can read the FBI's indictment here.

Photo: Bonza.