Potentially, depending on the state... But in California and many other states, its not actually a crime to simply pass a check that you know will bounce. There

Potentially, depending on the state... But in California and many other states, its not actually a crime to simply pass a check that you know will bounce. There's another essential element of the crime: Intent to defraud the recipient of the check. So if he felt confident in demonstrating that he had financial backers who'd cover the $700k if Pepsi delivered the airplane, then he might be able to beat the check fraud charge. But yeah, it seems like a pretty dangerous gamble to me.