bookworm
What about the case where an employee of a company freely chooses to fly somewhere, and the company provides a plane to the employee free of charge?
That is the most common mode in reality, where a plane is used to fly "on business". The employee doesn't pay anything then. If the plane is rented in, the employer is reimbursing the direct costs but the money doesn't pass via the employee.
The heli+celeb scenario probably included some facts not reported in the press... but certainly the CAA gets very active when it comes to anything that looks like getting around the need for an AOC. They prosecute flying schools that drop somebody off at a location different from the departure location.