THE pilot of a private jet owned by MAGA donor John Rumpel took opioids, had a split personality, and threatened to kill both of his business partners years before a deadly crash that killed four, according to his ex-associates and court documents.
Jeff Hefner, a retired Southwest Airlines captain, died on June 4 along with three of his passengers after a twin-engine Cessna Citation he was piloting crashed in a rural area of Virginia.
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The aircraft collided with the ground with such velocity it caused a crater and debris to scatter over more than 150 yards.
Rumpel's adoptive daughter, Adina Azarian, 49, and granddaughter, Aria, and Azarian's live-in nanny, Evadnie Smith, were named as the other three victims.
The cause of the crash is currently under investigation, but officials said Hefner appeared to be incapacitated in the cockpit of the Cessna shortly before the deadly impact.
Rumpel, who believes the aircraft may have lost pressurization in the air, told The U.S. Sun that Hefner was also in charge of maintaining and repairing the doomed jet.
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He told The Washington Post days earlier that he'd never previously had any problems with the jet or with the pilot, who had been working for him on and off for the last five years.
Former associates and Hefner's family lawyer, Jason Herman, described him as a highly competent and safe pilot - with one ex-client even dubbing him "Mr. Safety."
However, two former business partners of Hefner's vehemently disagree, telling The U.S. Sun he was reckless and had a well-documented history of skirting safety practices and neglecting necessary repairs.
The same two business partners also claimed that on multiple occasions Hefner made threats against their lives, defrauded them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and consumed the powerful opioid Oxycontin while operating aircraft.
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"Mr, Safety? My nickname for Jeff would be the Grim Reaper," said John MacDonald, who owned a private charter business in Florida with Hefner, and Hefner's neighbor, Rob McBride, who also spoke with The U.S. Sun.
"If you think about the Grim Reaper, every time he's doing what he's doing, he is out there trying to put someone's life in danger.
"And for Jeff to be so sloppy like that? There it is."
In a statement, Hefner's family lawyer issued a blanket denial of all the accusations made in this story.
'I'LL BLOW A HOLE IN YOUR CHEST'
MacDonald first met Hefner and McBride at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club, in Indian Harbor Beach, Florida, in 2011.
Describing Hefner as having a "Bernie Madoff swagger" to him, MacDonald struck up a friendship with the two men before they all decided to go into business together five years later and launch Island Coastal Charters (ICC) in March 2016.
Within months of ICC opening for business, problems started to arise between Hefner and his two partners.
MacDonald and McBride were growing increasingly concerned over Hefner's apparent lack of transparency regarding the business's records and his alleged mismanagement of the company's assets.
Both McBride and MacDonald told The U.S. Sun that Hefner became increasingly hostile as they attempted to press him about the ways in which he was operating the business.
In court documents, McBride and MacDonald would later accuse Hefner of gross incompetence and mismanagement - including failure to properly maintain their aircraft fleet.
They also claim he filed false police reports against them, locked them out of ICC's hangar, hid their aircraft and business documents, and even threatened them on several occasions.
I feel bad for everyone else on that plane, but not him. And if you talk to other people that knew him in the right way, they would say the same thing.
John MacDonaldon Jeff Hefner
Recounting one such alleged encounter - purported to have occurred after Hefner asked to borrow money from him - MacDonald said: "Whether it was true or not, he told me, 'I've already depleted most of my retirement funds and yada, yada, yada. I really need it,' and he was threatening to commit suicide.
"I said, 'Well, Jeff. Whether I loan you this money or not, your wife is going to find out, and if you think me writing you a check will magically make your life better, it won't. So I see no reason to do this.'
"And he threatened to kill me at that point. He told me, 'Okay, well if I'm going to go out, I'm going to take you out with me.'"
MacDonald claimed Hefner appeared deadly serious when making the threat, describing his eyes as reddened, his lips tightly crunched, and his demeanor otherwise erratic.
Tensions allegedly came to a head once more between Hefner and MacDonald in Oct. 2016 during a disagreement over the transportation of aid to the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.
MacDonald said he had purchased much-needed food, water, generators, and other supplies for disaster-stricken Bahamians that he wanted to fly out immediately on ICC's jets.
"I had all the stuff at the airport ready to fly, and Jeff tells me he needed money for what he claimed was for one of the motors of a plane to be repaired," said MacDonald.
"When I talked to one of our [supply] guys, he said, 'I don't know what you're talking about, I never even gave an invoice.
"So I pulled Jeff aside and tried to be nice. I figured he was hurt about something, and I asked him, 'What's really going on?'
"And he said all this stuff was going to happen, that the bank is going to take his car and his house and all this stuff.
"I told him I wasn't going to lend him any more money, and he told me, 'Fine, you're going to look like s**t in the Bahamas then. All these supplies that are supposed to be on planes tomorrow, they're not going.'"
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MacDonald said he informed Hefner he would instead arrange for the supplies to be delivered by one of his friend's charter companies and would have the cargo removed from the hangar.
It was then that Hefner allegedly pulled a gun on him and warned, "If you touch even one of these things, I'll blow a hole in your chest.'"
McBride echoed MacDonald's version of events.
He called the police after the threat was made but no charges were ever filed.
"First of all, you're not supposed to have a gun on airport property, that's illegal," said MacDonald.
"But he was desperate. It's a desperate thing if I was going to take all those supplies needed for people without water, food, and electricity, and he was going to stop all that because I wouldn't give him the money that he needed for his debt.
"That's just financial desperation. Nobody does that s**t."
DEATH THREATS
Months later, McBride claims Hefner made a similar threat on MacDonald's life, warning him that if he didn't get control of MacDonald he was going to take the gun that he had stored in his car and "shoot him."
McBride, who lived next door to Hefner, also found himself on the receiving end of a similar concerning threat shortly after, he claims.
The two men had been talking in Hefner's garden when he proposed a plan to McBride to force MacDonald out of the company.
As McBride recounts it, Hefner told him they needed to stick together and force MacDonald out because he was after "all of the money."
"I told him, 'No because Mr. MacDonald has done nothing wrong. What the hell?'
"And he said, 'You're either with me or against me, and if you're against me you and your family better move, and I don't mean out of the city.'"
McBride said he took that to be a direct threat to his family's lives, adding that Hefner had previously told him he owned numerous handguns and an AR-15.
McBride sold his home swiftly afterward and moved away.
"I have a wife and son, I'm not living next door to someone who is capable of something like that," he said.
Both McBride and MacDonald spoke to Hefner's apparent volatility, where in one moment he could be affable and warm, and the next incensed by something - often with the flip of a switch.
"So Side A - we'll call it - was a very nice, well-spoken, smiling, and friendly individual," said MacDonald.
"But Side B is a guy that you wouldn't want to share anything with - let alone a cocktail.
"He was very jittery, oftentimes he'd be so angry that he'd be foaming at the mouth. I mean, literally, spit coming out of his mouth because he was so angry, [and] clenching his first, yelling and telling in a 'I'm the boss' kind of way. 'I'm the pilot, I'm the A&P,' - blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
"Everyone who has seen this side of him told me the same thing: it felt like he was about to hit you at any moment."
Exacerbating his mood swings, MacDonald claimed, was Hefner's alleged frequent consumption of Oxycontin.
Both MacDonald and McBride claimed Hefner had been prescribed Oxycontin for back pain, and that he told them he often took the drugs while flying to relieve his pain, "especially when he was flying long distance in the cockpit."
MacDonald said: "One of the things that ended our relationship and business is that he would take Oxycontin, which he chewed on like he was going crazy.
"We caught him with them [...] he pulled this bottle of pills out from his briefcase and took them with some vodka he'd been keeping in the refrigerator.
"He told me and Rob that he had two different doctors for two different things: one to okay him to fly and the other he called a 'friendly' who would prescribe him Oxy."
BITTER FEUD
After months of simmering tensions, Henfer filed a lawsuit against John MacDonald in August 2017, accusing him of fraud, unlawfully trying to force him out of ICC, and various other offenses.
MacDonald and McBride filed motions of their own and were granted a stay in Hefner's case and an injunction.
The dispute was eventually pushed through to arbitration, where a judge ruled in favor of MacDonald and McBride.
Hefner was removed from the company and ordered to pay $24,817.35 to both McBride and MacDonald to cover their attorney fees and the cost of the proceedings.
The judge also ordered Hefner to deliver all accounts and record books relating to ICC to the plaintiffs, as well as to cease the advertised sale of any of the company's six aircraft.
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In his findings, Judge David Dugan wrote: "There was an abundance of testimony from McBride, MacDonald [...] of Hefner's improper conduct.
"Much of this testimony was actually corroborated by Hefner’s own testimony.
"These acts include but are not limited to changing locks on hangars and having improper airport access privileges denied to McBride and MacDonald to prevent them from accessing ICC’s business premises; removing and hiding property of ICC [...] denying McBride and MacDonald access to important tax and financial information.
"[And] Hiding aircraft owned by subsidiaries of ICC; pointing a gun at [MacDonald] and threatening the life of McBride and MacDonald on separate occasions; acting in a threatening and belligerent manner to employees of businesses with whom ICC did business; failing to maintain aircraft to an appropriate standard; and making an improper unauthorized filing with the Florida Secretary of State’s office."
Hefner twice unsuccessfully appealed the decision.
He later filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy on March 3, 2021.
The status of the filing at the time of his death remains unclear.
Only three of ICC's six aircraft have since been recovered, according to MacDonald and McBride.
They still haven't seen the company's records or accounts documents, the two men also claim.
In a statement, Jason Herman, the Hefner's family lawyer, issued a blanket denial of all the accusations made by MacDonald and McBride, including those encapsulated in the arbitration suit.
"On behalf of the family, we categorically deny the attacks upon Jeff’s character or professionalism. For a more balanced sense of Jeff’s reputation and work ethic, I would speak to the numerous pilots and aviation personnel that he worked with up to and including the day of the tragedy," said Herman.
"The specific allegations by Mr. MacDonald and Mr. McBride are denied in their entirety.
"There were certainly business disputes between the men and no doubt, disagreements can turn nasty, as they clearly did here.
"It’s easy and convenient to attack someone when they cannot and will never be able to respond."
'A MATTER OF TIME'
The cause of last Sunday's crash is being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
John Rumpel, the owner of the doomed Cessna, told The U.S. Sun that he has been in contact with both of the agencies this week, but he declined to share further details.
His voice shaking, Rumpel said he was "barely hanging on" as he struggled to come to terms with the tragedy of losing his daughter and granddaughter.
Herman, in response to being asked if Hefner was in charge of maintaining the aircraft, reiterated that Jeff had a reputation in his industry for being Mr. Safety.
"Regarding Jeff’s involvement with the Cessna - it is required of every pilot that he or she make sure the aircraft is safe to fly and that is exactly what Jeff did here and every time he took to the skies during his distinguished four-decade career," Herman said.
"Indeed, Jeff had a reputation for being 'Mr. Safety' regularly serving on safety committees and training new and experienced pilots alike in best practices when operating their aircraft.
"As far as Mr. Rumpel is concerned, Jeff and the family’s understanding was and is that Jeff was a highly competent, safe and thoughtful Captain of Mr. Rumpel’ s plane."
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Friends of Adina have remembered the luxury real estate broker as a "beautiful soul" and a devoted mother.
Both MacDonald and McBride said they were incredibly sad to hear about the deaths of Adina, Aria, and Evadnie.
However, MacDonald said he wasn't surprised to see Hefner involved in a deadly crash.
"I was not surprised that it happened because I just knew it was a matter of time, based on my own experience of the things he's done and said in the past [...] the fact we caught him red-handed charging us for services he wasn't performing on our aircraft.
"I don't care how good of a pilot you are, if your plane isn't being maintained properly it's only a matter of time before you crash.
"I mean, I hate to talk bad about someone that's passed away. But I've got to tell the truth.
"I feel bad for everyone else on that plane, but not him. And if you talk to other people that knew him in the right way, they would say the same thing."
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McBride added: "I was really, really sorry for the people on board that plane. It's truly a terrible thing.
"But Jeff? I don't really care that much, I'm sorry."
