ORLANDO, Fla. – An Orlando family is one of 1,500 victims who are out of millions of dollars, according to court records.
The leadership of a St. Petersburg trust fund company that manages funds for the disabled said the founder took $100 million in unauthorized payments from the trust, according to court records.
Florida’s Attorney General’s office tells News 6 they are aware of the situation, and the appropriate investigative agencies have been notified.
The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February.
Carol Mulholland said it’s how she found out her daughter’s money was gone.
“Oh it was a sucker punch,” Mulholland said. “It was like a blow to the gut that just knocks the wind out of you.”
“Initially it was shock and then stress and anxiety over the unknown, the uncertainty,” Mulholland added.
The uncertainty is about her daughter. News 6 profiled Jordan in 2018 when the family said the then 16-year-old was so happy to start back to school, she cried every morning when the bus arrived.
Jordan has cerebral palsy and will be disabled for the rest of her life. She was born 19 weeks premature, and the family sued the physician on her behalf for medical malpractice.
“It took 11 years to get to trial,” Mulholland said. “We were the oldest case on the docket at the time and then it took another 11 years to even collect on the money.”
Two years ago, they turned over more than a million dollars to The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration, which manages trust funds that are often funded from settlements, like Jordan’s, or recoveries from catastrophic personal injury lawsuits, according to court records.
Their attorneys in the settlement referred the family to The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration, Mulholland said.
According to the bankruptcy filing, the non-profit’s leadership recently discovered that“ between 2009 and 2020 approximately $100 million of funds under the center’s control was paid out as a loan,” according to the bankruptcy filing.
“The purported loan was made to the Boston Finance Group, a company controlled by the center’s founder Leo Govoni,” according to the filing.
“The center has been unable to locate any documents that a loan was ever authorized by the Center or its Board of Directors,” according to the filing.
“These are some of the most vulnerable people to be exploited and stolen from. And that’s exactly what it is, exploitation of vulnerable adults,” Mulholland said.
Mulholland said when she called and checked the status of Jordan’s account there was a zero balance.
Govoni is associated with numerous companies in Florida.
When the money was taken from the center, he also made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations, including a one-time almost $34,000 donation to Rick Scott and a $31,000 donation to the Republican Party, records show.
“I just hope that if there’s a place lower than hell, that’s where he’s going,” Mulholland said.
Several victims have filed a class action lawsuit against Govoni and his company Boston Financial Group.
News 6 contacted Govoni’s office multiple times through calls and emails and did not get a response.
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