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TALLAHASSEE — A former Largo resident is awaiting extradition from Michigan after his arrest last week for what authorities are calling a fake business development scheme.
Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution has charged Gary Gauthier with grand theft, stemming from allegations he offered a Tampa area entrepreneur a chance to secure marketing services to grow his business and raise funds through a private placement offering through GB Marketing LLC. Gauthier allegedly took $60,000 from the entrepreneur, but instead of investing the funds as he said, Gauthier used the money for his own personal needs.
This isn't the first time the state has come after Gauthier. He was arrested in January 2014 in connection with an alleged fraudulent real estate offering in Florida as well. At the time, 38 people claimed they were defrauded by Gauthier for more than $6 million — many saying they trusted Gauthier's claims because he was then a host of a religious radio show called “It's God's Money.”
That scheme, according to authorities, continued for more than a decade beginning in 2005, where Gauthier would allegedly convince people to invest thousands of dollars each into various real estate ventures.
Gauthier also was a business partner in Hudson Acres LLC, which purchased 28 acres of vacant land in Hudson for $1.5 million in 2007. That company would lose the land in a foreclosure auction in 2011.
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