Janay White had strong words in a Facebook live for those accusing her of financial fraud.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — *The video attached to this story is from a previous, related report.
A prominent Jacksonville entrepreneur facing a lawsuit and a torrent of criticism online, accused of fraud, took to Facebook live to tell accusers she would not be acquiescing to their wishes.
In a now-deleted stream rife with expletives, Janay White responds to people in the comments that have a problem with her: “I have a f***ing office that you could’ve come to. I have a customer service number.”
She then addresses those who want their money back, saying, “You ain’t getting a motherf***ing refund.”
White is the CEO of eight businesses in Jacksonville, including the J. White Business Center and a network of 50 Airbnbs.
A person who alleges White defrauded him created a Facebook group in October for others to address their grievances with White. The group now has over 9,400 members. During her Facebook live, White cites the Facebook group multiple times.
Members of the group have talked about being defrauded by White, claiming they gave her thousands of dollars to invest with no returns.
One poster claims he lost more than $50,000 to White.
Jacksonville attorney Chris Dempsey is representing the investors, and he believes White could have defrauded up to $200,000 from investors.
“It’s growing by the day, it’s growing in magnitude,” he said of the case against White. “It’s egregious and disturbing to me, and really sad that this is happening in our community by somebody who is not unknown.”
Janay White responds
In an interview with First Coast News last week, White said the allegations are “simply not true.”
She said this is just part of the job. “This is the horrible side of business,” she said. “I have lost millions of dollars doing these ventures. Bringing people with me. I have hundreds of thousands of dollars in chargebacks from people who stole from my company after they received profits.”
Griffin, an investor represented by Dempsey, filed a lawsuit in Duval County Court against White and her business, JW Enterprises Unlimited LLC. She called White “delusional.” She said there are too many records of what happened for White to claim that nothing was wrong.
“She’s very good at avoiding questions and avoiding the truth,” she said.
She said she is lucky that she is financially stable enough to bounce back, but there are people who lost “tens of thousands of dollars.”
“This is no small amount of money,” she said.
Griffin’s suit accuses White of “breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraudulent investment,” and says she and her associates lied about their ability to acquire property.
Griffin’s lawsuit claims that she was part of a group of people who paid $10,000 each to be mentored by White.
Griffin alleges that White was supposed to invest that money into a property for her, but months passed without White finding a “suitable property.” The lawsuit notes that White continued to add new people to the Facebook group: “Despite the failure of Defendants Janay White and/or JW Enterprises Unlimited LLC to secure properties for all the original mentees, defendants continued to add more mentees into the group.”
The lawsuit says Griffin was still not matched with a “suitable property,” White made excuses, claiming issues with the lender she used.
“We have been notified by our current lender that their funds have dried up for the time being. For those who are currently under contract,” White wrote in a Facebook post, pictured in the lawsuit. “I am working with another lender with similar terms that can get the deals closed.”
Meanwhile, White and her associates continued to post on the Facebook page saying that other mentees had closed on properties.
Griffin was eventually “gifted” a property by White. Her business partner signed a lease on the property, and Griffin’s name was never on the lease. Her business partner ended up deciding not to renew on the lease after there were problems with the property, including plumbing. At this point, Griffin tried to leave the program.
The lawsuit says she was offered 50% of her original investment – $5,000 – but instead took the case to court.
