A few months before his aviation empire disintegrated, years before he was accused in a $52 million fraud case, Mark Avery was having an amazing day.
He had his video camera running to document the highlight, an over-the-top birthday gift for his right-hand man, Rob Kane.
Prosecutors played that video in an Anchorage courtroom Wednesday at Avery's trial in U.S. District Court on wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud charges. Avery is accused of spending $52 million from a loan backed by the $100 million trust of an elderly widow that he was supposed to protect as one of three trustees.
That fall day in 2005, Avery and his family, along with Kane and his family, were traveling in one of his companies' executive jets from Florida back to Alaska. The men had gone to an aviation convention while their wives and young children went to Disney World, Kane told jurors Wednesday. Both couples are now divorced.
At one of the stops on the way home, a small airport in California, Avery recorded the big surprise: a $2.4 million World War II vintage F4U Corsair fighter plane.
"This is yours, Rob," Avery tells his friend and top aide.
The defense contends that Avery had approval from the other two trustees to invest in air charter and medevac operations that they could also use. But prosecutors say much of the money was blown on purchases that made no business sense and wouldn't benefit May Wong Smith, whose $100 million trust was set up to provide for her care as she aged.
Case in point, according to prosecutor Steve Skrocki, is the Corsair.
On Wednesday, the trial's seventh day, Kane was on the witness stand as Skrocki played the video, stopping it at key points for questions.
The video is jerky and overexposed with poor sound quality. Jurors and Judge Ralph Beistline were handed transcripts to follow along and the judge said it was still hard to keep up.
Kane's three small children pop in and out of the frame. In the courtroom, Kane teared up while watching. He told jurors his ex-wife and the children are living in the Philippines, where she is from. He hasn't seen them for eight years. He said he is living in a trailer on his parents' property in Arizona.
Kane testified that he had told Avery the Corsair was his favorite plane. Avery preferred the classic P-51 Mustang, another vintage fighter, and bought one of those for himself. They had looked at pictures together.
"This is it," Kane is heard saying at one point that day. "There's nothing left."
Kane had done undercover work on contract for the FBI off and on since 1993, but exaggerated his role, made things up and wasn't credible as a source, according to a narrative agreed to by both sides. He portrayed himself as a major intelligence operative.
"The way I look at it, 20 years of service to the government and with a lot of people pissing on you," Avery can be heard saying on the video. "Even though he's a dickhead sometimes, somebody's got to pay him back."
The plane was freshly painted Navy blue with "Pilot Rob 'Kandy' Kane" on the cockpit entry.
"I love you, bud," Avery tells Kane at one point.
Doug Gallant, an Anchorage businessman and pilot who leased hangar space to Avery's Security Aviation -- the company he bought and then lost -- testified later Wednesday he helped Avery find both the Corsair and the Mustang.
The Mustang, a two-seater, could have been used as a marketing tool to take clients for rides, Gallant said.
But the Corsair, a single seater with room only for the pilot, made no sense, he told jurors. Kane and Avery aren't pilots, so they couldn't even go out in it, and the Corsair is so powerful that pilots must be specially certified.
"Only 12 to 15 (pilots) can even fly it," Gallant said. Back when it was flown off and on aircraft carriers, he said, its nickname was "Ensign Killer."
After the group left Fresno that day, Kane never saw the Corsair again. It wasn't registered in his name. Avery ended up selling it, the Mustang and more at fire sale prices when Security Aviation and his other businesses went under after an FBI raid in 2006.
Skrocki asked Kane whether he had access to the bank accounts for Security Aviation or other Avery businesses.
No, Kane said.
Did Kane ever make requests for wire transfers of the money? Skrocki asked.
No, he answered.
After the planes were sold, the money was stashed in the E-Trade account of Kane's lawyer, Paul Stockler, purportedly to pay the bills at Security Aviation, Kane said.
Did any of the money pay back May Wong Smith? Skrocki asked.
No, Kane said.
When Mike Dieni, Avery's lawyer, got his chance to question Kane on Wednesday, he asked about various offhand comments Kane made on the 20-odd minute video about what sounded like undercover work.
"You're making references to Thailand, smuggling someone out, a guy in London, the FBI, the CIA, all of this on a little video," Dieni said.
Didn't he often make references about work with the FBI and CIA to Avery?
Yes, Kane answered.
Avery was impressed by his history? Dieni asked.
Yes, Kane said.
On the witness stand, he remained collected and cooperative, even when he was talking about bizarre things. Dieni asked him about a determination that he was delusional, unreliable and "reported as possibly being mentally ill."
Kane said he didn't know where that determination came from. He said he didn't have mental health issues and wasn't on medication. But he suffered a head injury after being beaten up in the Philippines in 2007, he said. Something exploded in his eye that still causes problems. He has trouble focusing, he said.
"Didn't you also describe that you found some kind of microchip in your teeth?" Dieni asked.
In an X-ray, yes, Kane said.
Jurors also heard testimony about a $500,000 line of credit Avery obtained at Wells Fargo Bank in October 2005 to keep the businesses afloat as the $52 million was running out.
Commercial loan officer Joe Kocienda, who recommended approval, soon went to work for Avery. He wanted the excitement and got a $5,000 raise, he told jurors. He said Avery told him he had inherited his money from his father.
Two of the 17 charges against Avery stem from his failure to disclose the $52 million debt to the trust on the Wells Fargo paperwork.
The only liability that Avery listed was a $760,000 mortgage.