Florida Special Needs Trust Founder Charged with Stealing Over $100 Million from Beneficiaries
On June 23, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Leo Joseph Govoni of Clearwater, in Pinellas County, Florida, and John Leo Witeck of Tampa with stealing more than $100 million from, and ultimately bankrupting, a nonprofit organization that managed funds for vulnerable individuals with special needs and disabilities. The organization was the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration (CSNT).
Govoni and Witeck are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Govoni is also charged separately with one count of bank fraud, one count of illegal monetary transaction, and one count of making a false bankruptcy declaration. The bank fraud offense carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison; each wire fraud, mail fraud, and related conspiracy count carries a maximum of 20 years; the illegal monetary transaction count carries 10 years; and the false bankruptcy declaration carries 5 years.
According to the indictment and court documents, Govoni co-founded CSNT around 2000. The nonprofit managed funds for individuals with disabilities and other special needs, including settlements and court awards, and grew to be one of the largest administrators of special needs trusts in the country, with beneficiaries in Florida and nationwide. As of February 2024, CSNT managed more than 2,100 special needs trusts containing approximately $200 million in assets. From June 2009 through May 2025, Govoni, Witeck, and their co-conspirators allegedly solicited, stole, and misappropriated client-beneficiary funds, treating them as a slush fund to enrich themselves and others, and concealed the scheme through complex financial transactions and deceit, including sending fraudulent account statements with false balances to disabled victims and their families. Govoni allegedly used stolen money to purchase real estate, travel via private jet, fund a brewery, make deposits into his personal bank accounts, and pay debts. In February 2024, CSNT filed for bankruptcy and disclosed that more than $100 million in client-beneficiary funds was missing from its trust accounts. Govoni is also charged with bank fraud related to a $3 million mortgage refinance loan and the alleged laundering of $205,054 to pay off a home equity line of credit on his residence.
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe said protecting the most vulnerable members of society is a priority of his office and called the fraud alleged in the nationwide scheme unfathomable. Statements were also issued by IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco, FBI Assistant Director Jose A. Perez, and Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the HHS Office of Inspector General. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, the HHS Office of Inspector General, and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Peresie and Michael Gordon and Justice Department Trial Attorney Lyndie Freeman of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section. Prosecutors noted that an indictment is merely a formal charge and that every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
(Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida)
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于佛罗里达州希尔斯伯勒县坦帕市的 Sam M. Gibbons 联邦法院大楼，本案在此所属的佛罗里达中区联邦法院审理。Ebyabe 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse in Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, in the Middle District of Florida, where the case is being heard. Photo by Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
