More MAGA billionaires linked to private jet used for ICE flight to African prison

Four migrants were sent to a prison in the African kingdom of Eswatini last week on a private jet linked to Trump-supporting billionaires.

One of the migrants onboard is from Tanzania, one from Sudan, and two are from Somalia, according to the government of Eswatini, and have no ties to the country.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement chartered the jet operated by Talon Air. But it is owned by shell companies connected to Jordache founder and real estate developer Joe Nakash and his frequent business partner Eli Gindi. Federal records show both Nakash and Gindi have frequently contributed to President Donald Trump’s bids for the White House.

Representatives for ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, Talon Air, Gindi Capital, Nakash Holdings Group, and Jordache Enterprises did not respond to requests for comment.

This is the second jet used to transport migrants to the Eswatini prison to be connected to MAGA billionaires. Last October, a jet owned by father-and-son developers Michael and Gil Dezer flew 10 migrants to the kingdom’s prison, which I reported first for Zeteo. The Dezers have built several Trump-branded condos in Florida and remain close with Trump. Their jet was later used to transfer Palestinians to Israel, first reported by Haaretz and later by the Guardian.

Gindi and Nakash’s aircraft, a Gulfstream V, left the ICE detention hub of Mesa, AZ, on the night of March 10, according to public flight data, and made a stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico – a common refueling stop for ICE flights to Africa. Next, it stopped in Accra, Ghana; it is unclear if Accra was a refueling stop only or if migrant passengers were also removed there. (ICE has transferred at least 60 migrants with no ties to the country to Ghana since last September.) The plane arrived at King Mswati III International Airport in Eswatini at approximately 5 a.m. local time on March 12.

The likelihood it was an ICE flight was first flagged by the ICE Flight Monitor at Human Rights First, which the Eswatini government later confirmed. An immigration attorney with knowledge of the passengers said that like previous groups of third-country nationals sent to Eswatini, all four of the migrants are men.

The trip appears to be the first ICE charter for Talon Air, a private charter airline based in Farmingdale, NY, but it does not appear to be the last. On March 14-15, the same aircraft flew from Mesa, AZ, and San Juan to Monrovia, Liberia, before laying over in Dakar, Senegal, a common layover stop for ICE trips.

The aircraft is co-owned by four shell companies, according to Federal Aviation Administration records: EGINDI N450JE LLC, JGINDI N450JE LLC, IN59JE LLC, and G V 559 LLC. The registered address for all of the shell companies is the same as Nakash’s Jordache Enterprises.

The plane also has a logo with two palm trees and the words “The Setai” painted on the side. The Setai is a Nakash-owned luxury hotel chain with locations in Miami, St. Maarten, and Israel, and has the same logo.

Indefinite Imprisonment Without a New Charge

ICE previously sent five third-country nationals to the Eswatini prison in July, and another 10 in October, from many different countries ranging from Cuba to Cambodia. So far, only one has been repatriated – 62-year-old Jamaican national Orville Etoria – though Eswatini said in its statement last week it expected another would be repatriated soon.

All of the people in the first two groups had prior convictions for serious crimes, though they had completed their sentences, and many, including Etoria, had been living peacefully in their communities for years before being snatched up by ICE and put on a plane. DHS claimed at the time their countries of origin had refused them back, which attorneys for the men and at least one of the countries denied.

In November, Etoria told the New Yorker’s Sarah Stillman that even as he was being shackled and boarded onto a plane last July, he thought he was being sent to Jamaica. He and the other men still hadn’t been told where they were going more than 20 hours later, when, shortly before landing, he said he was given a piece of paper saying he agreed to go to Eswatini. He refused to sign it; he’d never even heard of the country, formerly known as Swaziland.

“To be honest,” Etoria told Stillman, “it helped me imagine how the slaves might have felt, going to another land in shackles and chains – that loneliness, that disconnect, that sense of loss.”

Last fall, another man stuck in the Eswatini prison, Cuban-born Roberto Mosquera del Peral, 58, went on a hunger strike for at least 14 days to protest his arbitrary detention and the government's refusal to let him meet with his local attorney.

Mosquera’s hunger strike last 30 days, his U.S. attorney Alma David said. As of March 20, he is still among the now 18 migrants imprisoned there, sent by the Trump administration on private jets. He still hasn’t been allowed to meet with his local attorney.

A Fleet of Joint Ventures

Nakash and Gindi both come from Syrian Jewish families that found success in the 1970s and 80s apparel industry – Nakash as the founder of Jordache jeans, Gindi as a member of the family that started the Century 21 designer-discount chain. He is a co-founder of Gindi Capital, which is heavily invested in hotels and Las Vegas shopping.

In 2013, the pair outbid Trump in an auction for the Versace mansion in Miami, now a boutique hotel. They also co-own several hotels surrounding the mansion.

In the 2020 election cycle, Nakash contributed $400,000 to the Trump Victory PAC and $394,000 to the Republican National Committee, federal records show. Prior to this, all of his political contributions were $5,400 or less for congressional candidates from both parties.

Gindi’s contributions are harder to identify, but a person with the same name employed by “Gindi Capital” or “Gndi Capital LLC” contributed at least $44,800 to Trump PACs and the RNC in the 2020 election cycle, and at least $6,600 to Trump PACs in the 2024 election cycle, federal records show. The same person also contributed to a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. PAC and to Kari Lake’s failed Senate bid in the same cycle.

It is certainly possible Nakash and Gindi were unaware the jet they leased to Talon Air was being used for ICE flights. Many wealthy people lease their private jets part time to charter airlines in exchange for a huge Trump-created tax break and are not always aware of how the airlines are using them (just ask Robert Kraft).

But a constellation of clues also suggest Nakash and Gindi may be more involved with Talon Air than your “average” private jet owner.

In late January, Talon Air announced it had bought back an ownership stake from another charter company led by its CEO, COO, “and an unidentified investment group.”

Of the 25 aircraft listed by the FAA as being operated by Talon Air, at least nine have Setai-branded liveries and, like the jet used for the ICE flights, are registered to shell companies that share an address with Jordache.

A website for “The Setai Aviation” shows aircraft now in Talon Air’s fleet and does not appear to be active, nor does it appear in the FAA’s most recent list of charter carriers. And among Nakash’s many investments is another airline, the Israeli discount carrier Arkia Airlines.

Let me be clear: I do not know if Nakash or Gindi were part of the investment group that just bought Talon Air, because no one connected to any of the people or businesses involved has responded to my calls and emails, and because all ICE flights are subcontracted through the flight broker CSI Aviation. The FAA also hasn’t published an accurate list of charter operator fleets since September, something it used to do monthly. What I know is that Nakash has a prior history of airline investing, appears to have attempted to start a charter airline with Gindi that is no longer operating, and at least nine aircraft they co-own are leased to Talon Air. So they are already more invested in the company than most private jet owners.

Oddly enough, another aircraft formerly part of Talon Air’s fleet with Puma-branded livery experienced a crash landing in Mexico last April. In cellphone video from the scene taken by a man who appears to be Gindi, he can be heard saying, “It’s absolutely a miracle we’re alive.”

Note: This story has been updated with new information about Roberto Mosquera del Peral.

Thank you for reading. I am a former Washington Post staff writer and, as far as I know, the only journalist in America covering ICE flights full time. I am committed to keeping this reporting non-paywalled, but if you are able, please sign up for a paid subscription or send me a one-time tip, so I can continue this important work. –Gillian