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Former Dunedin Firm Comes Through With Refund, Client Says

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: December 11, 2008

Louisiana businessman Mike Flaherty said he was surprised to learn that the Dunedin-based financial company Landmark Leasing LLC was going out of business after he sent a check for more than $3,500 for an equipment lease on what he thought was a done deal.

Landmark abruptly shut down this month amid media scrutiny of its business practices and links to another company under investigation by state authorities.

Tuesday there were news reports about Flaherty's refund concerns. On Wednesday, Flaherty said something happened that surprised him more than Landmark closing.

He got his money back.

"I was extremely surprised, to say the least," Flaherty said. On Dec. 1, Landmark managers told Flaherty they were going out of business and promised to refund his money immediately. One day later they vacated their offices.

Flaherty read stories about Landmark's demise and expected the worst. He contacted a reporter, who called Landmark official Robert Craig Gibbons on Tuesday to ask about Flaherty's refund and a complaint from another customer who wanted a refund.

Flaherty said his wife received a FedEx package Wednesday with his original cashier's check inside, the day after news reports chronicled the complaints of Flaherty and another customer.

Landmark is under investigation by the Florida attorney general in connection with another firm, Clearwater-based Global Funding LLC. Investigators say they are examining the business practices of both companies.

Global had been besieged by dozens of complaints from customers who said they did not receive a lease or a refund after sending the company thousands in advance payments.

Global's owner, Jeffrey Michael Maricle, closed the business in October, shortly before a jury in a civil trial found that Global had committed fraud in one transaction.

Two days later, Landmark opened its Dunedin location. Like Global, Landmark offered heavy equipment leases.

Maricle, who registered Landmark's Web site in October, emerged days after Global closed its offices as a self-described consultant at Landmark Leasing, a company that employed five members of his former Global staff.

Gibbons said he is Landmark's managing member and is a childhood friend of Maricle. Landmark's management and ownership is impossible to document because it never registered as a corporation in Florida, as required by law.

Gibbons told a reporter he is still trying to return a lease prepayment to another customer, A.J. Rockwell, who runs an excavation company in West Virginia, but has no money.

Meanwhile, Flaherty said his bank in Louisiana initially did not want to let him deposit the cashier's check Landmark returned.

Flaherty said the bank hesitated because someone at Landmark had stamped and endorsed the check "for deposit only," then crossed out the endorsement before sending it back.

Flaherty said he persuaded the bank to deposit the check.

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

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