PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – Two Florida men were officially charged on Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly employing a fraudulent scheme to steal over $100 million from a nonprofit organization that managed funds for people with special needs and disabilities, the department said.
In or around 2000, Leo Joseph Govoni, 67, of Clearwater, co-founded the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration, according to court documents. The organization grew to be one of the largest administrators of special needs trusts in the country, officials said, representing beneficiaries in every state who received court awards, settlements and other payments.
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As of February 2024, the indictment alleges CSNT managed over 2,100 special needs trusts containing approximately $200 million.
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Govani and John Leo Witck, 60, of Tampa, who worked at CSNT as an accountant, allegedly set up a slush fund with their co-conspirators from June 2009 through May 2025, allegedly stealing misappropriated client-beneficiary funds and concealing it through complex financial transactions, including allegedly sending fraudulent account statements with false balances to disabled victims, DOJ said.
“The scale and audacity of the alleged fraud in this case are deeply troubling,” IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco said. “Stealing funds intended to protect and support people with special needs is as cruel as it is criminal.”
CSNT filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and disclosed that more than $100 million in client-beneficiary funds were missing from its trust accounts, officials said.
Govoni allegedly used stolen money to purchase real estate, travel in a private jet, fund a brewery, make deposits into his personal bank accounts and pay personal debts, the indictment said, separately committing alleged bank fraud related to a $3 million mortgage refinance loan.
Govoni and Witeck were both charged with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering conspiracy, the indictment said. Each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, if convicted.
Govoni was also charged with bank fraud, illegal monetary transactions, and false bankruptcy declarations, officials said. Govoni faces a maximum of 45 years in prison if convicted on each of the additional charges.
“As alleged, for over 15 years, the defendants conspired to use the funds of special needs clients as a personal piggy bank, stealing $100 million dollars meant for the most vulnerable members of our society to enrich themselves,” Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Matthew R. Galeotti said. “Today’s charges reflect the Criminal Division’s ongoing commitment to prosecuting sophisticated fraudsters who abuse the trust of their victims.”