JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The woman at the center of multiple civil lawsuits claiming bad business practices and fraud is opening a new credit office on Jacksonville's Southside, she announced on social media Wednesday.
In a Facebook post, Janay White said "she needs her money upfront," after announcing she's opening a credit office on the Southside.
More than 50 people have filed police reports about their experiences with White and her business, J. White Business Center. She is the CEO of eight businesses in Jacksonville, including the J. White Business Center and a network of 50 Airbnbs.
Investors have filed lawsuits, claiming they fell victim to what they describe as White's bad business practices.
One of those investors is Rayvon Griffin, who claimed White scammed her out of more than $10,000.
Griffin, who was a silent partner, told First Coast News in November that several investors were led to believe they would receive properties to renovate and sell from White, but never did. The incident prompted Griffin to take legal action against White.
"She's good at avoiding things and questions, that's when I realized I had to take a step back," Griffin said about White in November.
On Monday, Griffin filed a motion to compel a response from White, arguing she hasn't responded to court requests for months, hindering the case. The court certified the motion on Tuesday, but files do not indicate if White responded to the court's requests.
In a separate case filed in November, one plaintiff argued she lost a sum of $40,000 due to "wrongful conduct" and "bad faith" from White.
The plaintiff, Elisa Datcher, filed a motion for alternative service on Jan. 18, arguing after four attempts to serve documents to White, all have been unsuccessful.
"Defendant is required by law to keep her addresses correct with the Secretary of State," the document said. "Defendants are either refusing to answer the office door or the aforementioned address is no longer the business address."
Another entrepreneur, Teaveous Robinson, who spoke with First Coast News in November said she invested $10,000 in a real-estate mentorship program run by White, and didn't get the results she was promised.
She said the money was meant to be put towards securing a property and renovation costs.
"We were supposed to acquire the property and flip it, rehab it and sell it, and then split the profits at the end," Robinson said.
Instead, she said the property that was acquired had unexpected problems that ended up costing her more money and the property was never finished. Robinson added she doesn't know where her $10,000 went for renovations.
“I'm at a loss. I actually just did a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney. This is going to have detrimental, long-lasting effects on my personal life and my credit, my bank finances, all of the above with just one decision to invest with Janay," Robinson said in November.
The owner of a Jacksonville landscaping business said he invested $56,000 in Airbnbs through White's company, and after losing all his money, said there was "no communication, no specific answers, no accountability" from White.
“Things went out the window as soon as I started getting those profit losses," Ashley 'Buddy' Wilson told First Coast News in November.
After spending months without answers, Wilson said he turned to Facebook, creating a group for anyone to share about their experiences with White. Within about a month, the group quickly garnered thousands of members, who said they had similar experiences.
In November, White denied all claims that she scammed her clients calling them "simply not true" and pointed to the money investors lost as a challenging part of making business investments.
"This is the horrible side of business," White told First Coast News in a November interview. "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."
After First Coast News reached out for comment on Wednesday regarding White's new credit office, she posted on Facebook saying: "ANY interviews I need $5,000 MINIMUM, other than that I can't talk to ya."
White then told First Coast News she declined to comment on this story.