IRS and SEC join FBI to examine Govoni and missing trust funds

The FBI is not the only federal authority that deals with the finances of Leo Govoni to take the Clearwater Manager of Court of Court, 100 million US dollars from Medical Trust Funds.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service also include Govoni, according to Michael Goldberg, the insolvency administrator, who was commissioned to regain money for the families of disabled and injured people, whose trust funds were searched and emptied in some cases.

A non -profit organization of St. Petersburg, which founded Govoni, registered bankruptcy in Chapter 11 a year ago after finding that millions of dollars were missing in more than 1,500 trust funds. The money was attributed to a loan that was never paid back on one of the Govonis companies so that he could use the money as a “slush find”, according to court files.

A federal insolvency judge decided in December that Govoni owes $ 120 million as a guarantee of the loan. This was followed by an FBI announcement in September that it had initiated a criminal investigation.

“I assume that they will try to blame them for their criminal acts, and we have a top team of the government,” said Goldberg on Wednesday during a video call with trust fund and their families.

Goldberg warned the families that it is unlikely that 100% of the lack of money will be restored. What the trustee is able to save is brought into a trust in the victims and shared on Pro -Rata base, depending on how much every family has lost, he said.

The trustee and his legal team occupy a wide network to pursue money and assets, of which they say they should rightly be restored to the beneficiaries of the trust fund.

This includes an investigation by Govoni's relatives, including his son LJ Govoni, the daughter Caitlin Janicki and the son -in -law Anthony Janicki, said Steven Wirth, one of the lawyers of the faunteer.

LJ Govoni ran with his father Big Storm Brewing and transformed it into one of the fastest growing craft beer companies in Florida with tap rooms throughout Florida. The business benefited from Boston Finance Group loan, a company of his father, which received the loan in the amount of $ 100 million with trust funds.

Despite the investment, Big Storm imploded last year and has closed five TAP rooms since September.

LJ Govoni announced on social media in December that he had resigned as President of the brewery. He did not answer an e -mail that was looking for a comment.

In 2000, Govoni founded the center for the administration of the trust of special needs in St. Petersburg, John Staunton, and exhibited the non -profit organization to one of the largest administrators of the nations largest trust fund.

Submitted in the Federal Court of Justice that Govoni resigned from the center in 2009, but kept control of the non -profit organization and its trust funds. Then he orchestrated a credit line of 100 million US dollars of Boston Finance.

He was able to do this, it says in court files because he had “trusted people in important authority positions”, including his daughter Caitlin Janicki, the vice president until she stepped down in 2022. She did not answer a call or an e -mail application in which she applied for a comment.

In the years after the loan was set up, Govoni bought a private jet worth around 3.4 million US dollars and held a pilot for seven years, the Tampa Bay Times found. He flew friends to his executive suite in Kentucky Derby and donated more than 900,000 US dollars to politicians and political committees.

E -mails, which were submitted as evidence in the procedure in Chapter 11, show that Anthony Janicki worked for Boston Finance in 2016 and that he was asked for a request for $ 1 million in his company as part of his credit line. He did not give a call or an e -mail in which he applied for a comment.

In statements published by his former lawyer, Govoni denied the allegations made in court files. He was not charged with a crime.

According to Wirth, the collective measures of companies and individuals persecuted by the trustee who have received money from Boston Finance will have money.

An example of how the trustees follow the path of the lack of money was submitted to the Federal Supreme Court in the early this month. The lawsuit shows that Boston Finance has transferred 8.9 million US dollars to Big Storm Real Estate, another company that belongs to Govoni. Part of the money was used to buy two warehouses in Clearwater and a house in Punta Gorda.

The lawsuit states that the transactions according to the law of Florida should be regarded as fraudulent, and asks a judge to invalidate them. It mentions companies in Florida and Texas and the former owner of the Punta Gorda Home as a defendant together with Big Storm Real Estate.