The FBI is not the only federal agency digging into the finances of Leogovoni, a Clearwater businessman accused of receiving $100 million from a medical trust fund in court records.
According to Michael Goldberg, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue and Means Committee are also other institutions that are also being investigated by Govoni. This is a bankruptcy councillor appointed to collect money for the families of disabled and injured people who have been attacked and sometimes empty.
A St. Petersburg nonprofit founded by Govoni filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year ago after discovering millions of dollars were missing from more than 1,500 trust funds. The money comes from a loan made to one of the Govoni companies that were not repaid, and it is now possible to use the money as a “Slush Fund.”
A federal bankruptcy judge determined in December that Govoni owed $120 million to bankruptcy property as the loan guarantor. It launched a criminal investigation following the FBI’s announcement in September.
“They are hoping to retain the people responsible for their criminal conduct, and we have a top team in the government that is working on it,” Goldberg said on Wednesday in a video call with trust fund holders and their families.
Goldberg warned his family that 100% of the missing money is unlikely to be recovered. What the trustee can rescue is placed and shared between the victims on a proportional basis, he said, depending on how much each family loses.
The trustee and his legal team have cast a wide web to chase money and assets.
That includes investigations of Govoni’s relatives, including his son. LJ Govoni, daughter Caitlin Janicki and son-in-law Anthony Janicki, one of the lawyers on the trustee’s legal team, said Steven Wirth.
![Former Big Storm Brewery president LJ Govoni pours beer into the company's Clearwater taproom.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 620 413"/%3E "Former Big Storm Brewery president LJ Govoni pours beer into the company's Clearwater taproom.")
LJ Govoni ran Big Storm Brewing with his father, turning it into one of Florida’s fastest growing craft beer companies. The business benefited from loans from Boston Finance Group, the company owned by his father.
Despite the investment, Big Storm has collapsed over the past year, closing five taprooms since September.
LJ Govoni announced on social media in December that he had resigned as brewery president. He could not be reached for comment.
Govoni established the Special Needs Trust Management Centre in 2000 with St. Petersburg’s lawyer John Staunton, in 2000, growing the nonprofit into one of the nation’s largest trust fund managers.
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The bankruptcy records were filed in federal court, he said. Govoni resigned from the centre in 2009 but maintains control of the nonprofit and its trust funds. He then adjusted a $100 million credit line to Boston Finance.
He said he “trusts in individuals in key positions in authority” as he worked at the center, including his daughter Caitlyn Janicki, who was vice president until he resigned in 2022.
A few years after establishing the loan, Govoni purchased a private jet worth around $3.4 million and maintained a staff pilot for seven years, the Tampa Bay Times discovered. He flew friends to the Kentucky Derby executive suite and donated more than $900,000 to politicians and political committees.
The emails submitted as evidence in Chapter 11 minutes show that Anthony Janik worked for Boston Finance around 2016 and that he requested that he transfer $1 million to his company as part of his credit line. He did not reply to calls or emails requesting comment.
In a statement released through his former lawyer, Govoni denies the allegations made in court records. He has not been charged with a crime.
Worth said the collection actions pursued by the trustees include businesses and individuals who received the trust fund from Boston Finance.
An example of how councillors tracking missing money trails are being done was filed earlier this month in federal court. The lawsuit shows that Boston’s finances have moved $8.9 million to Big Storm Real Estate, another company owned by Govoni. A portion of the money was used to buy two warehouses in Clearwater and a house in Punta Gorda.
The lawsuit states that transactions should be considered fraud under Florida law and asks judges to override them. He named the company in Florida and Texas and the former owner of the Punta Gorda home.
