JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A prominent Jacksonville entrepreneur facing a lawsuit and a torrent of criticism online, accused of fraud, took to Facebook live to tell accusers she would not be acquiescing to their wishes.
In a now-deleted stream rife with expletives, Janay White responds to people in the comments that have a problem with her: "I have a f***ing office that you could've come to. I have a customer service number."
She then addresses those who want their money back, saying, "You ain't getting a motherf***ing refund."
White is the CEO of eight businesses in Jacksonville, including the J. White Business Center and a network of 50 Airbnbs.
A person who alleges White defrauded him created a Facebook group in October for others to address their grievances with White. The group now has over 9,400 members. During her Facebook live, White cites the Facebook group multiple times.
Members of the group have talked about being defrauded by White, claiming they gave her thousands of dollars to invest with no returns.
One poster claims he lost more than $50,000 to White.
Jacksonville attorney Chris Dempsey is representing the investors, and he believes White could have defrauded up to $200,000 from investors.
"It's growing by the day, it's growing in magnitude," he said of the case against White. "It's egregious and disturbing to me, and really sad that this is happening in our community by somebody who is not unknown."
Janay White responds
In an interview with First Coast News last week, White said the allegations are "simply not true."
She said this is just part of the job. "This is the horrible side of business," she said. "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."
Griffin, an investor represented by Dempsey, filed a lawsuit in Duval County Court against White and her business, JW Enterprises Unlimited LLC. She called White "delusional." She said there are too many records of what happened for White to claim that nothing was wrong.
"She's very good at avoiding questions and avoiding the truth," she said.
She said she is lucky that she is financially stable enough to bounce back, but there are people who lost "tens of thousands of dollars."
"This is no small amount of money," she said.
Griffin's suit accuses White of "breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraudulent investment," and says she and her associates lied about their ability to acquire property.
Griffin's lawsuit claims that she was part of a group of people who paid $10,000 each to be mentored by White.
Griffin alleges that White was supposed to invest that money into a property for her, but months passed without White finding a "suitable property." The lawsuit notes that White continued to add new people to the Facebook group: "Despite the failure of Defendants Janay White and/or JW Enterprises Unlimited LLC to secure properties for all the original mentees, defendants continued to add more mentees into the group."
The lawsuit says Griffin was still not matched with a "suitable property," White made excuses, claiming issues with the lender she used.
"We have been notified by our current lender that their funds have dried up for the time being. For those who are currently under contract," White wrote in a Facebook post, pictured in the lawsuit. "I am working with another lender with similar terms that can get the deals closed."
Meanwhile, White and her associates continued to post on the Facebook page saying that other mentees had closed on properties.
Griffin was eventually "gifted" a property by White. Her business partner signed a lease on the property, and Griffin's name was never on the lease. Her business partner ended up deciding not to renew on the lease after there were problems with the property, including plumbing. At this point, Griffin tried to leave the program.
The lawsuit says she was offered 50% of her original investment - $5,000 - but instead took the case to court.
Man behind Facebook group tells his story
Ashley 'Buddy' Wilson met Janay White back in March 2023. He owns a landscaping business in Jacksonville, but he was looking to expand his portfolio. He decided to invest in Airbnbs through White's company.
"I started giving them more money and I was kind of spreading it out. I started going by the office every week, making sure everything was still there," Wilson explained.
Wilson ended up investing $56,000. He said everything was fine until his rental units went live at the beginning of the summer. That is when he said communication started breaking down.
“Things went out the window as soon as I started getting those profit losses, there was no communication, no specific answers, no accountability," Wilson explained.
Wilson said some of the paperwork he received was not correct nor did it look right. He tried to find out more about the issues, but he said White and her associates were not forthcoming with information.
After months of not getting answers, Wilson turned to Facebook. He said he knew of several other people who were not getting paid by White, so he created a group that gained more than 12,000 members in about a month.
"I see this group as hopefully a place for these people to speak up and get the resources they need, and at least try to get their money back," Wilson said.
Wilson said he has now verified more than 50 victims, and he is passing along their information to investigators.
"We are providing as much information as possible. We are providing proof of payments, we are providing evidence of receipts, correspondence. We are handing things over as organized as possible," Wilson said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office confirmed they are aware of incidents involving White, and they are reviewing cases. Wilson said he just wants to help people get their money back and see White be held accountable.
"It’s really bad and that’s why I’m going to stick with it. Everybody has pretty much given their support and I have no doubt this is going to be taken care of," Wilson said.
If someone feels they are a victim of a crime, JSO says they may contact the non-emergency number at 904-630-0500.