The federal bankruptcy court ordered Leo Gobony, the owner of the violent brewery, to give control of the craft brewery after failing to comply with a court order that would halt spending.
Federal bankruptcy judge Roberta Colton announced an order Wednesday that would provide group consulting control of Clearwater Brewery’s accounting books, finances and pay records.
Financial advisor Govoni is facing investigations by the FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service to bankrupt a St. Petersburg nonprofit by adjusting $100 million in loans to its own company. The money that was not repaid was sucked up from more than 1,500 medical trust funds set up to pay medical expenses for injured and disabled people.
Also, recently filed court records show that one year after the lost money was revealed, Gobony or his companions still managed the side dishes for a small number of trust funds and Medicare payments.
The trust was transferred to its owned company, where bankruptcy lawyers are believed to be abolished.
“It turns out they’ve been secretly manipulating them all the time,” bankruptcy councillor Michael Goldberg wrote in a motion to ask the court to cut control of the court’s corporation.
The court agreed and ordered William A. Long Jr. of Nperspective Advisory Services to serve as Chief Restructuring Officer of three Govoni companies. This includes Boston Asset Management and Global Litigation Consultants, an investment advisory firm.
Govoni has not been charged with a crime and refused to misconduct a statement provided by a former lawyer a year ago. He did not respond to calls or voicemails for comment.
![Former Big Storm Brewing president LJ Govoni is portrayed in the company's Clearwater taproom. He and his father, Leo Gobony, grew the business from Pasco's single taproom. LJ Govoni became the focus of an FBI investigation into his father, Leo Govoni, missing Trust Fund Money in December.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 620 413"/%3E "Former Big Storm Brewing president LJ Govoni is portrayed in the company's Clearwater taproom. He and his father, Leo Gobony, grew the business from Pasco's single taproom. LJ Govoni became the focus of an FBI investigation into his father, Leo Govoni, missing Trust Fund Money in December.")
The legal action could mark the end of Big Storm’s stewardship, where he and his son, LJ Govoni, grew into one of Florida’s fastest-growing craft beer companies. This order allows Rising Group to change the locks of the company’s taproom and brewery at 49th Street N and restructure it into the company to repay its obligations based on court oversight. This order applies to other large Storm-branded companies, such as distilleries and coffee outlets, but it is unclear whether they are still operating.
Court injunctions issued in January and February allowed Big Storm Brewing to pay workers by the end of January, but had to halt all expenses after that. However, on Wednesday evening, the taproom remained open.
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Bankruptcy trustee Goldberg filed a motion earlier this month warning the judge that he had not provided the company’s ongoing spending and monthly financial records when necessary. The brewery is considered Govoni’s assets that can be transferred to bankruptcy properties.
Goldberg said in his allegations that “we cannot cause any further damage” by appointing a Chief Restructuring Officer to carry out the Big Storm.
At its peak, Big Storm had taprooms in Odessa, Eversity and Orlando, in addition to the 16,000-square-foot flagship brewery in Clearwater.
It acquired small breweries such as Fat Point Brewing in Punta Gorda and Darwin Brewing in Bradenton, and signed sponsorship agreements with Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Lowdies and Clearwater threshing machines.
Court records show that the swift expansion period coincided with the missing trust fund receiving nearly $16 million from Boston Finance Group, a high-profile goboni company.
![Leo Govoni on the right is accused of bankruptcy records of stealing $100 million in unpaid loans from the Medical Trust Fund set up for disabled and injured people. The funding was managed by the Special Neads Trust Administration Center, a nonprofit organization that Govoni founded with lawyer John Staunton.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 620 466"/%3E "Leo Govoni on the right is accused of bankruptcy records of stealing $100 million in unpaid loans from the Medical Trust Fund set up for disabled and injured people. The funding was managed by the Special Neads Trust Administration Center, a nonprofit organization that Govoni founded with lawyer John Staunton.")
It wasn’t just the breweries that the Govoni company was making profits. An analysis by a forensic accountant hired by the trustee to track missing trust funds tracks details of how a total of $89 million was transferred to other Govoni companies through Boston Finance.
The biggest winner was Austin Colby Company, a technology and management company that received more than $30 million.
Nearly $9 million has gone to BCL Aviation, the company that Govoni owns a $3.4 million private jet and employs pilots.
Among other trips, Gobony used the plane to fly himself and his business associates to Louisville, where he had an executive box in Churchill Downs. This included going out to the Kentucky Derby. A Tampa Bay Times investigation has been found.
