By Friday evening, the golf course at Dunes Golf and Beach Club has a second act. The day’s second round finishes, and at 6 p.m., John Stamos joins the Beach Boys on the Ocean Lawn. The next afternoon, between rounds and the crowds around the course, a private jet is scheduled to fly over the tournament.

Those details are increasingly part of the Myrtle Beach Classic’s identity. Its 2026 celebrity pro-am included Kurt Russell, John McEnroe, Vanna White and Formula 1’s Lando Norris, while the 2025 tournament drew 36,000 spectators, generated a reported $15.8 million in economic impact and raised $225,000 for nine local charities. It had only just become a PGA TOUR stop in 2024 but soon turned into a major event on Myrtle Beach’s calendar, with the golf sitting alongside the concerts, celebrities and tourism business built around it. All of it puts the company attached to the tournament’s name under even more scrutiny now.

 ONEflight International, the private aviation company that became the event’s co-title sponsor in 2025, and as per what Golfweek reported on X, is facing three federal lawsuits alleging fraud and breach of contract.
Here’s what happened:

The lawsuits also raise questions about how ONEflight was taking in new customer money while expanding its sports partnerships. The plaintiffs claim customers paid large sums toward future flights that were not delivered and have not been fully refunded.

The immediate trigger came on September 16, when ONEflight announced that it was “pausing all flight activity for the next 30 days, or until further notice” while it carried out what it called a “comprehensive evaluation” of its operations and status. The company did not announce that it was permanently shutting down.

That distinction matters because the money at issue was tied to prepaid flying. ONEflight sells jet cards and arranges private-jet travel through a network of charter operators rather than operating a conventional airline fleet. Reports at the time estimated that roughly $150 million in prepaid balances and future flight value could be exposed. That was an estimate of money potentially at risk, however, not a finding that $150 million had already been lost.

The lawsuits put individual numbers behind that wider figure. Five-Star Audiovisual, an Illinois company that had used ONEflight since 2023, sued on September 22 and alleged that the company was holding $223,078 in prepaid funds. The complaint also alleges that Five-Star was asked to put down another $250,000 shortly before ONEflight suspended flights.

A separate complaint filed by California customer Jeremy Ricks is more sweeping. Ricks alleges that he had deposited about $780,000 with ONEflight over multiple programs and was left with a cash balance of $580,461.42. His complaint alleges that the company used new customer deposits to meet obligations to earlier customers, vendors and charter operators—what the lawsuit describes as “the hallmark of a Ponzi scheme.”

Ricks also points to a June 2026 promotion offering 40% off flight hours. According to his complaint, he questioned a ONEflight sales executive about the company’s financial health before depositing another $150,000 on June 4. He alleges he was told the offer was limited, only to later see what he says was the same promotion being offered to other customers. Those are allegations in the complaint and have not been adjudicated.

The third September case was brought by Kamran and Sharri Jinnah, who allege that more than $800,000 in cash payments and promotional credits remained with ONEflight after the suspension. The three September cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and name ONEflight and, in the relevant complaints, CEO Ferren Rajput.

There is also now a fourth known federal case. Davin M. Pokoik filed against ONEflight Jets and related entities on October 6, with the new complaint reportedly alleging a similar pattern of selling additional flight hours to existing customers who already held substantial balances. The docket confirms the case was filed in Colorado on October 6.

That makes the timing of ONEflight’s earlier expansion in sports especially notable. In January, the company said it generated $232 million in total revenue in 2025, up from $122 million in 2024. ONEflight also said flight activity rose from 9,375 hours to 16,522 hours and identified its partnerships with TGL and the PGA TOUR as a “meaningful driver” of that growth.

Rajput himself said at the time, “Our partnerships with TGL Golf and the PGA TOUR elevated our brand on a global stage.” Within weeks, ONEflight added another major sports property: McLaren Racing named it the Official Private Aviation Partner of its Formula 1 team for 2026 and beyond, with ONEflight branding appearing on the team’s cars and on the race suits of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Its relationship with the Myrtle Beach event was also more involved than a name on the leaderboard. In 2025, players who finished in the top 50 received five complimentary flight hours. For the 2026 tournament, ONEflight went further, offering the winner a $250,000 flight credit and five-hour credits to every player who made the 36-hole cut.

The sponsor was also building its brand into the event’s entertainment side. ONEflight flew more than a dozen celebrity ambassadors to the 2026 Pro-Am, while a McLaren F1 car was displayed during tournament week. The tournament’s own announcement described the setup as part of ONEflight’s growing global presence.

That helps explain why the sponsorship is not an incidental relationship. ONEflight joined Visit Myrtle Beach as the tournament’s co-title sponsor in February 2025, replacing the event’s previous branding after its first season. The agreement is scheduled to run through 2027, with the next Myrtle Beach Classic set for May 13-16 at Dunes Golf and Beach Club.

The PGA TOUR has not announced that it is ending the relationship. Golfweek reported that the Tour declined to comment on the lawsuits. There has also been no announcement of a replacement title sponsor. Visit Myrtle Beach, meanwhile, has said it plans to continue as a sponsor in 2027.

The tournament itself has continued to build its case as a valuable Myrtle Beach property. Its 2025 edition generated $15.8 million in economic impact, brought in 36,000 spectators and booked almost 10,000 lodging room nights across the Grand Strand. The event also coincided with a record 285,000 rounds of golf played in the Myrtle Beach area in May 2025.

By February 2026, the tournament had won South Carolina’s Governor’s Cup for Best-in-Class Event. Its 2025 edition had also produced more than 31 million social-media impressions, while its “Q at Myrtle Beach” creator qualifier generated more than one million YouTube views. The tournament therefore represents more than four days of golf for the region; it has become part of Myrtle Beach’s wider tourism pitch.

Notably, this is not the first time the PGA TOUR has had to deal with questions over money received from a sponsor later tied to a major financial fraud.

A similar question reached the PGA TOUR 15 years ago

In 2011, Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver for Stanford International Bank, sued the PGA TOUR in federal court in Dallas seeking to recover more than $12.9 million that Stanford-linked entities had paid the Tour.

The money dated to 2007 and 2008, when Stanford was deeply involved in professional sports sponsorships. The receiver was also pursuing about $10.5 million from IMG over sponsorship-related payments and more than $900,000 from golfer David Toms. Stanford had denied the allegations at the time.

The Stanford case was ultimately far more established than the allegations now facing ONEflight: Stanford was convicted in 2012 on 13 of 14 counts tied to a fraud scheme involving more than $7 billion in investments. The disputes over money paid to sports organizations continued separately through the receivership.

For now, the Myrtle Beach Classic remains on the 2027 PGA TOUR schedule, with Dunes Golf and Beach Club set to host the event from May 13-16. What remains unclear is whether ONEflight will still be part of its name when the tournament returns.