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Dunedin Firm Probed By State Closes Its Doors

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: December 3, 2008

TAMPA - A financial company in Dunedin under investigation by the Florida attorney general is closing its office.

The state said it is investigating Landmark Leasing LLC to determine whether it is connected to a company accused of "unfair and deceptive trade practices."

The attorney general's office began its investigation of Landmark last week after news reports linked it to a similar company that has been under investigation by a number of government agencies for months.

Witnesses say employees of Landmark spent most of Tuesday removing paperwork and equipment from an office at 1112 Pinehurst Road.

"They were definitely in a hurry. There were 10 people up there moving stuff," said Lisa Frankman, who works in a dental office below the leasing company. "It took a good five or six hours to get everything out."

Robert Craig Gibbons previously identified himself as a managing member of Landmark. He did not return a reporter's calls or respond to a knock on Landmark's office door today.

One of the laid-off workers involved in the move today was Jeffrey Maricle, who says he has been working as a consultant for Landmark since he closed his company, Global Funding LLC of Clearwater, at the end of October.

"I'm no longer employed there. I'm trying to get my stuff out of here," said Maricle as he was filling the back of his sport utility vehicle with boxes of paperwork from the Landmark office.

Records show Landmark's Web site was registered by Maricle, and Landmark's operations resembled Global in myriad ways. Five of Landmark's employees formerly worked for Maricle at Global, including Gibbons. The wording of contracts used by both companies is nearly identical.

Those similarities and other unspecified information led the Florida attorney general to open a fraud investigation of Landmark last week in connection with an ongoing probe of Global Funding.

Global is the target of four investigations based on dozens of complaints from independent truck drivers and others who say they sent Global large payments for equipment leases and ended up without a lease or a refund. In November, a jury in a civil trial found that Global committed fraud in connection with one customer's complaint.

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603 or mdouglas@wfla.com.

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