San Diego

Final arguments in the fraud case against Jet Air owner George Straza and two other company officials ended Tuesday, and jury deliberations are to begin today.

The U.S. District Court jury heard final arguments after the defense attorneys for all three defendants rested without presenting a single witness.

Straza, 58, of Rancho Santa Fe, owned Jet Air Inc., a firm that manufactured aerospace specialty items in El Cajon. He has since sold it.

On trial with him is his corporate secretary, Alice Skinner, 57, of Lakeside, and his vice president, Joao Costa, 50, of San Diego.

Straza is charged with 43 counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States and a government contractor, theft of government property, making false statements by issuing false invoices, and mail fraud.

Skinner and Costa are charged with 20 counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States and the contractor, Pratt & Whitney; mail fraud, and theft of government property in the sale of 90 jet engine burner cans to another company.

Prosecutor George Hardy argued that the defendants planned a “secret deal” to sell 90 burner cans to Aerospace Innovators Ltd. of Manhattan Beach by using unauthorized blueprints for the burner cans’ manufacture from Pratt & Whitney.

Hardy said Jet Air made $239,400 from the arrangement, which was “100% profit” because the costs were billed to Pratt & Whitney for the burner cans delivered to Aerospace Innovators.

Weitzman argued that no fraud was committed because Pratt & Whitney received the burner cans it ordered at the price that had been set.

“No one said there was any fraud,” Weitzman argued. “Everybody got what they paid for. Nobody’s complaining except Mr. Hardy.”