John Travolta targeted with ‘harassment’ and gets sucked into a criminal fraud case

When 2025 started, John Travolta probably believed that the year would be marked by his high-profile projects that include a crime thriller, an action flick (that he is currently filming), and a musical romantic comedy. What he didn’t factor in was a criminal fraud case involving the theft of nearly $800,000.

It all started when, in March 2024, Jean Lacruz-Romero, the actor’s pilot, was arrested on charges of grand theft and organized theft, along with another man named Jorden Coursey, who also worked as a pilot for Travolta’s company, Constellation Productions. As claimed by prosecutors, the two were given company credit cards for purchasing fuel. But soon, another employee at the company found discrepancies in their total costs since the charges on the card were too high, contrary to the expected expenditure for aviation fuel. He allegedly became “suspicious,” which led to the discovery of the reported fraud.

Jean has been accused of deliberately inflating fuel purchase invoices that were being paid to Lux Fuels, a company owned by Jean’s wife. Court documents detail that this money was then transferred from Lux Fuels to JPL Aviation, which is Jean’s.

As reported by InTouch Weekly, Jean has entered a ‘not guilty’ plea against the criminal charges against him and has instead listed Travolta and James Marino, the actor’s personal trainer who often accompanied him on the flights, as witnesses he wants to testify in his case to prove his innocence.

The demand has been met with criticism and denial by prosecutors as they claimed that the only reason Jean is listing Travolta and Marino as witnesses is to cause them “harassment, unnecessary inconvenience and invasion of privacy.”

“Based on the information provided to the State by the representative of Constellation Enterprises as well as the testimony provided by the same witness during depositions … neither of these witnesses would have direct knowledge as to the facts of the alleged crimes as they were happening.”

Jean’s attorney has defended his client’s stance, stressing that since the Grease star is the only officer and director of his company, he is expected to be the one who approved all the purchases and invoices furnished by his polit, aka the evidence the defense is using to build its case. Also, the actor was the primary person who availed of Jean’s role as the pilot “regardless of whether the trips were for business or pleasure.”

“As such, one of the main witnesses would be the person who had the most interaction with the pilots/defendants — as employer, as passenger, as co-pilot and as their main traveling companion. 

Often the pilots, as a condition of their employment, would spend the night in accommodations provided by, and accessed by, Mr. Travolta while traveling or while making preflight arrangements. Additionally, Mr. Travolta would be a primary witness, as being the person having the most in-person conversations and interactions with the pilots regarding aircraft maintenance, aviation fuel, necessary aircraft supplies, and flight plans.”

As for adding Marino as a witness, Jean’s attorney claimed that since he travels frequently with Travolta, he knows about billing details, had conversed over texts with the pilots and third parties, etc. 

While the court is yet to decide whether it agrees with the prosecutors regarding Jean’s witness list, it has a request from the prosecutors as well – for the hearing to be held in a “closed courtroom.” Jean’s lawyer is against the requested setup as it’s not the norm in cases involving private citizens.

Currently, both Jean and Jorden are out on bail – Jean is ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device till the trial takes place – even though the prosecutors had rallied for him to incarcerated he is a “flight risk.”