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March 29, 2000
Special Agents from the Charlotte, NC office of the FBI, raided
the offices of GeneraLogistics,
Inc. Monday and seized corporate documents and computers.
Clients of the company, which claims to provide "creative
financing" for small businesses, have complained that
they paid large fees but never received the funds the company
promised.
GeneraLogistics' offices are located in the home of the company's
president, Johnny B. Giles. He was not home at the time of
the FBI raid.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Young said the agency is reviewing
the seized documents and is interested in locating other complainants.
Besides its Web site, which stopped working the week of March
26, GeneraLogistics advertised in The Wall Street Journal,
Investors Business Daily and other business publications,
claiming to have access to investors who were eager to invest
in business ventures that had not been able to obtain financing
elsewhere.
But two
small business owners who recently complained to ConsumerAffairs.Com
said they had paid the firm thousands of dollars in loan facilitation
fees and had never received funding.
A real estate developer from Tampa said he paid $38,000 for
a $2,500,000 loan commitment which never materialized. A Wisconsin
businessman said he paid more than $50,000 in fees for a $500,000
loan he never received.
Both men said they lost additional amounts of money because
of Giles' failure to deliver on his promises and both said
they had been humiliated in their communities.
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