Mansions, muscle cars, and Miami beaches were Michael Roth's spoils of flying tourists over New York City's landmarks - until it all came crashing down.

His tour company, New York Helicopter, was flying a family of five on a sightseeing trip on Thursday when the aircraft suddenly fell from the sky.

Spanish tourists Agustin Escober, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, and their three young children Augustin, 10, Mercedes, 8, and Victor, 4, were all killed. 

The pilot, Navy SEAL veteran Sean Johnson, 36, also died in the crash.

Despite his company being shut down by the NTSB for investigation, the New York Helicopter website is still taking bookings and promoting the chopper that crashed, declaring 'we fly the safest, most reliable aircraft in the world'.

Roth, 71, lived the high life with his wife Josephine Sausa, 62, with sizeable homes in NYC and Miami Beach and, at his peak, at least four souped-up sports cars.

His primary residence is a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 10,000sqft mansion steps from the beach in Rockaway Park he bought for $2 million in 2020.

Almost as soon as he acquired the huge home, he plastered the façade and even bigger front yard with Donald Trump signs ahead of the election.

New York Helicoper owner Michael Roth lived the high life with his wife Josephine Sausa with big homes in NYC and Miami Beach and, at his peak, at least four hotted-up sports cars

The New York Helicopter website is still spruiking the chopper that crashed, declaring 'we fly the safest, most reliable aircraft in the world'

Roth's other property is a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 2,783sqft villa on Miami Beach 'reminiscent of the Versace Mansion'.

Photos showed off the house's lavish features including beautiful plasterwork, opulent finishes, modern kitchen and bathrooms, and a pool.

'This architectural gem blends timeless elegance with modern sophistication, offering an unparalleled lifestyle just a short drive from the vibrant energy of South Beach,' its listing read. 

The couple bought the mansion in part because Roth launched Miami Helicopter in 2015, offering tourists the same experience as his NYC company over Miami's gorgeous beaches. 

However, it no longer appears to be operating in the sun-soaked Florida city.

Roth is something of a luxury car enthusiast, once boasting a fleet of at least four Mustang roadsters - complete with racing stripes.

They included a 2007 Mustang GT500 Super Snake, and two Mustang Shelby GT500 coupes, all from the 2000s and 2010s.

He and his wife also posed with Ferraris, Bentleys, and other luxury models and a yellow sports car was seen parked outside his Miami home.

Roth loved to show off his wealth and apparently ample free time on social media, which included frequent photos of his cars and luxury living.

His primary residence is a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 10,000sqft mansion steps from the beach in Rockaway Park he bought for $2 million in 2020

Almost as soon as he acquired the huge home, he plastered the façade and even bigger front yard with Donald Trump signs ahead of the election

Roth is something of a luxury car enthusiast, once boasting a fleet of at least four Mustang roadsters - complete with racing stripes

The couple also filled their pages with hundreds of a reshared memes from politics to animal welfare and random other videos.

A pithy comment was always included. Frequently he praised Trump with lines like 'Love my President Trump', which he repeated variations of many times.

'Love my President for 8 more years,' he wrote when showing off his yard signs, despite Trump only being eligible for four more.

By contrast, he called Democrats and others he disagreed with corrupt, evil, or criminals, singling out Barack Obama as 'the face of evil'.

Sausa mostly avoided political content, but in one post he shared efforts in China to protect animals - adding the comment, 'Kudos for the few Asian who r not evil!'

But Roth's high life increasingly hit turbulence in recent years even before Thursday's catastrophe.

New York Helicopter nearly went bust in 2019 when Roth invoked chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as he couldn't pay his creditors.

Roth blamed a 2017 law that cut the number of tourist flights permitted to take off from NYC in half after safety, environmental, and noise complaints.

He and his wife also posed with Ferraris, Bentleys, and other luxury models and a yellow sports car was seen parked outside his Miami Beach home (pictured)

Just six weeks ago, he put the Miami Beach mansion on the market, asking $3.5 million for the five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 2,783sqft villa 'reminiscent of the Versace Mansion'

Roth loved to show off his wealth and apparently ample free time on social media, which included frequent photos of his cars and luxury living

'A small minority in New York City hates a helicopter... They’re just as important as the double-decker bus, just as important as the three-wheeled bicycle. We are part of the fabric of the tourist industry,' Roth complained to the New York Times in 2011. 

As flights were cut down but Manhattan landing fees rose, the company saw revenue fall from $4.5 million in 2017 to $3.9 million in 2018, according to its bankruptcy papers. New York Helicopter said it slashed its staff from 30 employees to 13.

By 2019, it listed $6 million in assets and $1.6 million in liabilities, including hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for landing fees and repair bills.

'Took a great business and the City of New York destroyed it. Eventually, with God's help, I’ll save the business,' Roth said at the time.

The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2022 but apparently continued to face financial headwinds.

Roth only has one of his beloved muscle cars left, bemoaning the loss of the others in a mournful post last year.

Then just six weeks ago, he put the Miami Beach mansion on the market, asking $3.5 million according to property website ads.

He's also been much quieter in advertising his wealth in recent years, since it was apparently much diminished. 

Roth founded it in the 1990s and still runs the firm, which is also known as New York Helicopter Charter Inc, and New York Helicopter Tours LLC

New York Helicopter nearly went bust in 2019 when Roth invoked chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as he couldn't pay his creditors

Roth only has one of his beloved muscle cars left - this one

Last June, the company filed a lawsuit over what it called an 'unconscionable' loan it got in 2018 from another cash-advance lender. 

The helicopter company dropped the case this month. It is unclear from court records whether there was any financial or other settlement, and a lawyer who represented the company declined to comment.

New York Helicopter also faces ongoing lawsuits over alleged debts.

The company was sued for over $1.4 million in January by a company that claimed it wasn't being paid for a leased chopper.

A cash-advance lender sued in February, saying the helicopter firm had blocked repayments on a weeks-old loan and owed over $83,000. New York Helicopter hasn't yet filed a response in either case.

The business said it was profoundly saddened by the crash and referred any media inquiries to investigators.

'The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew has always been the cornerstone of our operations,' it added.

Roth founded it in the 1990s and still runs the firm, which is also known as New York Helicopter Charter Inc, and New York Helicopter Tours LLC.

'I'm absolutely devastated,' he told The New York Post after Thursday's deadly crash. 

'The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, is that the main rotor blades weren't on the helicopter.

'And I haven't seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business.

'The only thing I could guess... I got no clue... is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don't know.'

Agustin Escober, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, and their three young children - Augustin, 10, Mercedes, 8, and Victor, 4 - were on vacation to celebrate the birthday of one of their daughters, who would have turned nine on Saturday

The doomed helicopter was being flown by 36-year-old Sean Johnson (pictured) - a Navy SEAL veteran - when in suddenly split apart in the sky

One of few firms with a license allowing it to fly close to major New York City landmarks, it also offers shuttles to airports and charter flights for executives and others.

The airspace around Manhattan is busy, tricky and sometimes deadly. More than three dozen people have perished in tours and other helicopter crashes in NYC in the last half-century. 

Just weeks ago, a $90 million settlement ended a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by relatives of one of five passengers killed in a 2018 sightseeing-helicopter crash operated by a different company.

Mayor Eric Adams noted in TV interviews on Friday that thousands of flights a year operate safely from the lower Manhattan heliport where Thursday's tour took off. 

Asked whether he had any specific concerns about New York Helicopter, he said only that investigators were looking into what happened. He won't stop flights over the city operated by other companies.

New York Helicopter's website claimed an 'industry-leading safety record,' but its history is far from spotless.

The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the 2013 power failure partly to an 'improper maintenance decision' about an oil pressure issue. 

A family of four tourists from Sweden were taking a sightseeing tour in a Bell 206 helicopter that had also taken off near Wall Street.

There was a close call in 2013, when a helicopter suddenly lost power in midair and the pilot maneuvered it to a safe landing on pontoons in the Hudson

All four passengers were taken to hospital at the time, but there were no serious injuries

The pilot was forced to land in the water and deploy inflatable pontoons to keep the aircraft upright. 

All four passengers were taken to hospital at the time, but there were no serious injuries.

Two years later, a New York Helicopter craft went into a spin while hovering about 20ft off a helipad, landing hard but safely with just the pilot aboard. 

The investigation determined the same helicopter - a Bell 206 model leased from Meridian Helicopters - had been involved in a hard landing in Chile in 2010. 

The helicopter was found to have a drive shaft of the aircraft that the NTSB described 'unairworthy' that was hidden in a 'deliberate concealment and reuse'.

The NTSB blamed an unknown person who had painted over a bad part, which was marked as faulty, so no one would know.

New York Helicopter had recently leased the aircraft from Meridian Helicopters, a Louisiana company that had just bought it and told investigators it arrived with a fresh coat of paint.

Meridian also owned the Bell206L-4 LongRanger IV aircraft that crashed into the Hudson on Thursday.

Horrified onlookers in New York and New Jersey watched as the aircraft, operated by local tour company New York Helicopter Charters, split apart in the sky and spiraled into the river