TAMPA, Fla. — A federal indictment accuses Clearwater entrepreneur Leo Govoni of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to embezzle $100 million from medical trust funds.

Prosecutors described him as the “proverbial fox guarding the henhouse” and state that he used the nonprofit that held the trust funds “like a $100 million piggy bank.”

They also say Govoni had help.

His accountant, John Leo Witeck, was arrested on several charges, including wire and mail fraud and money laundering.

In addition, a 32-page indictment unsealed last month depicts a network of co-conspirators “known and unknown” who solicited, stole and misappropriated trust fund money from people with disabilities and those with injuries nationwide.

The indictment includes a list of properties that it states were partly or fully bought using stolen funds that connect family members and other business associates to the far-flung scheme. None of them have been charged with a crime, but prosecutors plan to seize those properties.

Greg Kehoe, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, declined to say whether others will be charged.

“I will tell you that the investigation is continuing, and those records and everything that was brought to bear is going to be continued to be analyzed on a daily basis,” Kehoe said.

Not named in the indictment but referred to as “Individual-1” is a Pinellas attorney who, 25 years ago, cofounded the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration. His name is John Staunton.

Like Govoni, Staunton resigned from the center in 2009. But the indictment states that Govoni maintained control of the nonprofit’s operations and finances and continued to give orders either directly or through Staunton and other board members.

Staunton, 72, graduated from Stetson University’s law school in 1997.

The university named a suite housing its elder law center after Govoni and Staunton in 2008. The two paid for an endowment toward the cost of a faculty position teaching elder law. The suite has since been moved and no longer bears their name.

Will Lindahl, executive director of the CPT Institute, reviewed the accounts of Govoni’s nonprofit after his organization was appointed by a federal bankruptcy court to help take over management of the depleted trust funds.

Lindahl said that Staunton was entrusted to manage trust fund money left over after a beneficiary dies.

Typically, leftover money goes to the other named trust beneficiaries after any Medicaid liens have been paid. In some cases, the remains are shared between the state’s Medicaid agency and the nonprofit group that administers the trust.

But Lindahl told the Tampa Bay Times in December that he could find no records of repayments from the center to any state Medicaid programs. That made no sense since the center managed trust funds for individuals in 40 states, he said.

The Florida Bar had an open investigation into Staunton as of December but declined to provide details. Officials there did not confirm its status by late last month. Staunton remains a member in good standing and has not been charged with a crime.

Witeck, the indicted accountant, began working for Govoni around 2013, the indictment states. In 2017, they formed Fiduciary Tax & Accounting Services. Witeck ran the company out of an office in Safety Harbor.

It was contracted by the center to do its accounts and was paid at least $1.2 million over a six-year period, tax records show.

The accounting firm provided services that included annual statements for trust fund holders detailing how much was in their fund and where the center had invested their money.

The statements that Fiduciary Tax produced showed some of the missing money as invested in “BFG Prime” or “Bank56.”

“Govoni and Witeck sent annual false accounting statements to their victims, promising that their money was in investments, when in reality that money was already in Govoni and Witeck’s pockets and their businesses,” Kehoe said.

Witeck served with the United States Army for four years and another eight years with the U.S. Army Reserves, according to a resume posted on linkedin.com. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management at Eckerd College and a master’s in taxation from Florida Atlantic University, it states.

The properties that federal prosecutors listed for seizure include the Feather Sound home Govoni owns with his wife, Jane Govoni, a language professor at the University of South Florida.

It also includes the Clearwater home belonging to Govoni’s son, LJ Govoni, who earlier this year stepped down from Big Storm Brewing after six years as its president.

A forensic audit conducted on behalf of the bankruptcy trustee found that at the time LJ Govoni headed Big Storm, it received $16 million in loans from Boston Finance Group, the company that prosecutors say served as a pass-through entity for stolen money.

The loans enabled the craft beer business to expand rapidly for several years. The company subsequently collapsed, leaving a trail of lawsuits from unpaid landlords and suppliers.

The Clearwater home where Govoni’s daughter, Caitlin Janicki, lives with her husband, Anthony Janicki, is also listed in the indictment.

She worked as a vice president of the center until April 2022. Tax records show she earned about $130,000 per year.

A complaint brought by bankruptcy estate trustee Michael Goldberg states that Govoni placed “trusted individuals in key positions of authority” at the center after he resigned, including Janicki.

Emails filed as evidence in the center’s Chapter 11 proceedings show that Janicki’s husband, Anthony Janicki, worked for Boston Finance around 2016 and that he made a request for $1 million to be transferred from the center to his company as part of its line of credit.

Many of the companies Govoni formed named Pinellas attorney Jonathan Golden as an officer. The Clearwater home he shares with his wife, Joanne Golden, is also listed in the indictment as a target for forfeiture.

Most of the other properties prosecutors are targeting are owned by Artspace Properties, a real estate investment company Govoni formed in 2011.

That includes the current home of Elizabeth Sauer, whom former employees of Govoni’s described as one of his closest business associates.

Sauer and Govoni were named as defendants in a 2024 civil action brought by the Florida attorney general’s office after its investigation found $2 million missing from the Directed Benefits Foundation, a second nonprofit founded by Govoni to manage trust funds.

Sauer served as the group’s president from 2022. The state’s complaint accused Govoni, Sauer and another employee of stealing money from 48 trust funds set up to pay for care for people with severe medical needs.

A response filed by her attorney seeking to dismiss the action said that the state had failed to identify which allegations were specific to Sauer.

The civil action remains open but was stayed because ongoing bankruptcy proceedings were seeking the same assets as restitution.

Sauer recently filed for Chapter 11 protection, citing debts of up to $100,000.

In her affidavit filed this month, she stated that Govoni gave her a 40% stake in Artspace and that she paid him $217,000 for the home in 2009. She has not been able to find the personal check she wrote to Govoni for the home. She said there is no paperwork that proves her ownership interest in Artspace.

“As with all of my business transactions with Govoni the purchase was done with a verbal agreement and a handshake to finalize the purchase,” it states.

© 2025 Tampa Bay Times
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC