Judge denies bail for Clearwater businessman charged in $100 million fraud

A federal magistrate denied bail for Leo Joseph Govoni Monday afternoon — hours after the 67-year-old Clearwater businessman was arrested and charged in an 18-count indictment alleging he stole more than $100 millions from a nonprofit that managed funds for people with special needs and disabilities.

Govoni, facing 260 years in federal prison, was to be moved to the Pinellas County Jail Monday evening and go back before the judge for a detention hearing in Tampa Thursday afternoon. That hearing will determine whether U.S. Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone grants bail. 

Govoni, along with John Leo Witeck, a 60-year-old Tampa accountant who worked for him, were arrested Monday morning in connection with a scheme prosecutors allege involved stealing more than $100 million from, and ultimately bankrupting, a nonprofit organization in Clearwater that managed funds for vulnerable individuals with special needs and disabilities.