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 GeneraLogisticss 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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