Nothing tests a sponsorship like a pile of federal lawsuits. The PGA Tour just dropped private jet charter company ONEflight as co-title sponsor of the Myrtle Beach Classic, and the reason makes this a full-blown PGA Tour sponsor fraud story. (The tournament itself isn’t going anywhere.)
A PGA Tour official confirmed that, as of Oct. 15, ONEflight is no longer a sponsor, according to Yahoo Sports. So far, ONEflight and its founder and CEO, Ferren Rajput, have not publicly responded to the allegations.
One thing to be clear about up front: every fraud claim here is an allegation in a civil lawsuit. No court has ruled, and no criminal charges turned up in our reporting.
What the ONEflight fraud allegations say
ONEflight is based in Denver, and the suits against it are filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. They allege that large, non-refundable deposits were taken for flight hours the company could not deliver. One plaintiff, Five-Star Audiovisual Inc., says ONEflight is holding $223,000 meant for future flights.
The sharpest language comes from a California customer, Jeremy Ricks, in a suit filed Sept. 20. He alleges the company “used new customer deposits to fund existing obligations to earlier customers, vendors, and charter operators — the hallmark of a Ponzi scheme,” as quoted by the Post and Courier. That suit also claims customer money helped pay for marketing and sponsorship deals, reportedly including the PGA Tour and McLaren’s F1 team.
Court records cited by the Post and Courier put ONEflight’s inability to return deposits at an estimated $150 million. The three plaintiffs alone paid more than $1 million combined in prepaid deposits.
Reports on how many suits exist vary, and the number may be growing.
A Myrtle Beach Classic sponsor that went quiet in September
ONEflight suspended flight operations around Sept. 16. The company said it was halting flights for at least 30 days for a “comprehensive evaluation of our current operation and status.” That 30-day window runs out about now, and we don’t know what comes next.
The company had become co-title sponsor in February 2025 on a reported three-year deal. It was also a loud presence at the event. According to EssentiallySports, it brought celebrities like Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell to the pro-am and parked a McLaren F1 car at tournament week.
The suits claim that kind of glitz was used to make a business look healthier than it was. That is an allegation, not a finding.
It’s not the only ugly money story in golf lately. Senior players are already livid over a vanished pension, and a tournament sponsor dropped under a legal cloud only adds to the pile.
Here’s the thing: this is a vetting problem
Sponsors don’t just write checks. They borrow the Tour’s credibility for their own brand. Customers who say they’re out real money will see that logo and wonder who was checking.
The Tour reportedly declined to comment on the lawsuits last month, per EssentiallySports, so the split is the first clear signal of where it stands.
Is it the Tour’s job to audit every sponsor’s books? Not exactly. But a $4 million purse and a spot on the schedule come with a duty to pick partners who can pay their own bills. Otherwise, the next PGA Tour sponsor lawsuit lands on the Tour’s doorstep too.
The Tour has plenty of other business to handle, from Q-School, which tees off Oct. 20 to the endless LIV talk. A sponsor mess is the last thing it needs.
The Myrtle Beach Classic stays put
The event is safe. Visit Myrtle Beach, the tourism arm of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, stays on as sole title sponsor for 2027. President Stuart Butler said the group is “excited to continue its sponsorship of the tournament in 2027,” per The Sun News.
Steve Mays, named the new tournament director on Oct. 15, told WMBF: “We’re gonna move forward as the Myrtle Beach Classic with Visit Myrtle Beach as our title sponsor. There’ll be no change to the purse or to the tournament.”
The 2027 event runs May 13-16 at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Brandt Snedeker won the 2026 edition. Whether another co-title sponsor steps in is an open question, and it’s too early to say.
The bigger question is how the federal cases play out. If the allegations hold up, plenty of customers will be waiting in line, and a golf tournament will be a footnote.
