Govoni was given the “final final” opportunity to avoid criminal charges

TAMPA – It’s been more than a year since Rebekah Bowman learned that $850,000 was missing from the Medical Trust Fund, which was set up for his late-developed son, Kienan Freeman.

On Wednesday, she and her son will make a 135-mile trip from their Cape Coral home to federal court in Tampa, hoping to see Leo Govoni.

But Gobony was a free man on Wednesday, and after the hearing he approached Bowman and her son. Before she could react, he leaned over and hugged her, telling her that the missing money “is not something she thinks,” she said.

She replies that he had broken his promise to take care of her son’s money.

“I’m rocking right now,” Bowman said in an interview. “He knows what he did.”

Govoni still faces prison threats as it fails to comply with court orders to prepare personal and business records. Federal bankruptcy judge Roberta Colton, who discovered Govoni was emptied on April 28, said he would decide at the “final hearing” on June 12 whether or not his case would be introduced to federal district court for the criminal cont crime proceedings.

The Special Neads Trust Administration Center, founded by Govoni, filed for bankruptcy in February 2024 after authorities found documents indicating that a $100 million loan was made to his company, Boston Finance Group. It never paid back and left disabled and injured families with no money for medical and living expenses.

Govoni lived a luxurious lifestyle after the loan was approved, records show. He flew a friend on a $3.4 million private jet and watched the Kentucky Derby from the Executive Suite in Churchill Downs. He dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to politicians.

Colton in January decided that Govoni would be responsible for the missing money. He is also under investigation by the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

John Dix, an attorney working for bankruptcy property, told Colton during the hearing that Gobony had not revealed what he had done with revenue from the approximately $5 million in property sales that took place since November 2021.

“There was no information or effort,” he said. “It’s like pulling your teeth to get this.”

Buddy Ford, a lawyer representing Govoni, submitted a tranching of documents one day before the hearing. He said progress was being made in Colton. He also summoned Joanne Golden of the Pinellas Realtor Society, the wife of Jonathan Golden, a former business lawyer for Gobony.

Dix said he didn’t have time to review them all, but he still doesn’t have many records, including Govoni’s personal finances details and an information sheet for Boston Finance.

The hearing comes a day after a Pinellas Court judge said he would issue an order requesting repayment of trust funds transferred from Boston Finance to other Govoni companies. This includes $16 million wired to Big Storm Brewing, and craft beer business Goboni ran along with her son LJ Goboni.

In another effort to recover the property, Colton approved the sale of the warehouse at 610 Charlotte Avenue in Punta Gorda, owned by Big Storm Real Estate. However, the purchase was funded through a seller-funded mortgage, resulting in revenues of around $173,000.

Some of that money will be available to families facing urgent medical needs, said Megan Murray, an attorney for Underwood Murray whose centre represents those unpaid money.

Bowman said his son met Gobony in 2004 shortly after his son, and he received an annual pension from the $800,000 award and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. He suffered from severe seizures after receiving the vaccine at 18 months, which affected his development. He is wheelchair dependent and has limited language skills.

The awards and pensions are intended to pay for the care of her son for the rest of his life. Freeman is 27 years old.

“(Govoni) described himself as very kind, kind and kind,” Bowman said. “He promised to take care of the money and help us raise it.”

Like more than 1,500 other families, Bowman received a letter in February 2024 informing her that their trust fund had been violated and that the Centre was filing for bankruptcy. The trust had $200,000 remaining, she said.

“It affects everything,” Bowman said. “We’re blessed with having some money. But there are people who have zeros in this. They have nothing.”