Janelle Irwin Taylor
Leo Govoni has been found liable for $122 million in missing funds from a bankrupt nonprofit he ran overseeing medical trust funds for more than 2,000 people with injuries and disabilities.
The ruling, handed down by Middle District of Florida Judge Roberta Colton, hits Govoni with a final judgment in a case brought against him by bankruptcy trustee Michael Goldberg. The judgment allows Goldberg to leverage Govoni’s assets to recoup funds, and issues a temporary restraining order against Govoni barring him from selling assets tied to the more than 100 companies he owns or that received funds from the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration, from which Govoni’s Boston Finance Group was given a $100 million loan.
The final judgment also requires Boston Financial Group to pay all “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in collecting under the promissory note.”
Goldberg is the Chapter 11 Trustee for the Center’s estate, listed in legal documents as the Debtor.
The judgment comes just weeks after Goldberg filed a motion in mid-December arguing Govoni still owed more than $122 million to the Center, which he founded.
At issue is $142 million in missing benefits for disabled people the special needs trust was supposed to administer. Govoni has been accused of using more than $100 million of the nonprofit’s funds to loan other businesses under his control. The organization filed for bankruptcy last February. It had been holding funds in trusts for disabled people for nearly a quarter century.
Attorney General Ashley Moody is suing Govoni and other defendants over the accusation they stole money from beneficiaries, “many of whom were already the victims of at least one horrific event resulting in debilitating personal injury,” according to her lawsuit.
As part of Govoni’s bankruptcy proceedings, he claims he owes $30 million. The final judgment this week supports Goldberg’s request for summary judgment for the larger $122 million sum. In his request for summary judgment, Goldberg’s attorneys wrote that his claim of owing just $30 million was “a self-serving and vague declaration” based on what Govoni “thinks he remembers interest payments to have been.”
The motion is the latest line of trouble for Govoni and his interests. Last month, Govoni’s son, LJ Govoni, stepped down as President of Big Storm Brewing, which has taken a huge hit amid his dad’s legal woes.
A criminal investigation into the elder Govoni and the missing funds at issue is ongoing by the FBI. Big Storm was once one of the state’s largest breweries, with tap rooms in Cape Coral, Odessa, Orlando, Ybor City and its flagship location on 49th Street in Pinellas County. Now, that flagship location is the last remaining.
The elder Govoni and Big Storm are also facing several lawsuits from landlords who say they are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
In July, a defendant in the lawsuit from Moody’s Office, reached a deal with plaintiffs. Karen Fisher, who served as the Director and Secretary of the special needs trust, agreed to fully cooperate with officials in the ongoing investigation in return for suspending a $10,000 fine against her in the case.
