FDC Business Incubator Operator Sued by Investor Group

A new controversy has emerged in association with the BizLinc business incubator in Lake Wales. BizLinc operator Florida Development Corp is being sued by a trio of investors who claim the company owes them more than a quarter-million dollars.

According to the lawsuit filed in the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court, the three investors are being denied access to company books and dismissed by FDC officers. The lawsuit says that, after acknowledging the $260,000 cash infusion made by the three investors, FDC has dismissed their requests for financial information, along with their claims of ownership.

Courtesy City of Lake Wales

Former BizLinc Chief Financial Officer Charles Young, left, issued a document itemizing investment shares in February 2024, despite reportedly having already been dismissed by former partners Frank Cornier, center, and Derrick Blue. Young was arrested and charged with Grand Theft in April of 2024. FDC disputes the validity of the document which was cited in a lawsuit by investors who funded the company's venture into Lake Wales properties.

Controversy has followed FDC during its operation of BizLinc. The company's former chief financial officer, Charles Young Jr., was arrested in April and charged with fraud and grand theft after being accused by FDC partners Derrick Blue and Efrain "Frank" Cornier of stealing more than $100,000 from the company. He is awaiting trial on those charges.

The five-count lawsuit asks the court to clarify the plaintiff's right to access the financial records of the company, which the two remaining officers claim they cannot access, and to clarify the trio's ownership interests in the company.

Lake Wales News has learned that the three jilted investors, Lamar Dula, Mike Ross, and Jim Landrom, are all fraternity brothers of Young. The group is being represented by attorney Henny L. Shomar of the Fort Lauderdale-based Tripp Scott law firm.

The lawsuit states that "In or around 2022, FDC approached and solicited the Plaintiffs, seeking capital contributions in exchange for equity interests in FDC...to be used to fund real estate development projects that qualified as "Opportunity Zones" in or around Polk County, Florida."

In speaking with the three plaintiffs, they each acknowledged to Lake Wales News that they were assured by Blue, Cornier, and Young that their investments were secured by real estate which FDC was purchasing.

The investment of the funds appears to have immediately preceded the purchase of the incubator building at 225 Lincoln Avenue. FDC purchased that property for $225,000 on April 13, 2022, followed by the purchase of several other properties in the same neighborhood. The corporation currently holds ten properties in the neighborhood. Most are empty lots.

Courtesy Hillsborough County Sheriff's office

Charles Young Jr. was arrested in Hillsborough County in April 2024 after he was accused by his partners of embezzling more than $100,000 from Florida Development Corp.

The complaint cites a letter that the three investors received from Cornier in May regarding the arrest of Young which acknowledged their investment, stating that "we are all victims."

The lawsuit filing also included a document that appears to have been electronically signed by Young on February 4, 2024, months after the September 8, 2023 date that Blue and Cornier reported that he had been dismissed by them. The alleged theft was not reported to police until November 2023, leading to a nearly six-month investigation ending in Young's April arrest.

That February summary signed by Young revealed that Blue, Cornier, and Young were not among the individual investors in FDC, but listed FDC itself as a minority owner controlling 17.1 percent of the corporation.

The response prepared by FDC attorney Daniel Etlinger of Underwood Murray, a Tampa law firm, states that Young's summary has no validity. "On October 20, 2023, an amended annual report was filed with the Secretary of State providing notice FDC had removed Mr. Young as CFO," Etlinger wrote.

"FDC still owns these properties and continues to operate its business, including the maintenance of bank accounts and use of funds provided to FDC, including grant monies," a reference to the $1.2 million FDC received from the City of Lake Wales to operate the business incubator, which was intended to drive the regrowth of a commercial business district on Lincoln Avenue in the city's Northwest Neighborhood.

Due to the holidays, neither of the attorneys of record in the matter were available for comment. Lake Wales News first raised questions about the competency of the FDC effort last February, citing numerous indications of a lack of competence in business operations by those presumed to be experts offering advice to others.