05 Aug The Downfall of “Trustify”
Written By: Mark Lynn, FBCI
Keck Investigations
FALI Legislative Chair, Life Member, Past FALI Speaker
For the last several years FALI, as well as CALI, and other national statewide associations have had “Trustify” on our radar. We discussed their “unlicensed” activities many times with the previous Director of the Division of Licensing and were prepared to take further action until Trustify imploded, thanks to the greed of Danny Boice the founder and self-described former CEO of Trustify.
There were already numerous lawsuits in the works prior to Thursday, November 15, 2018, when Trustify missed company payroll. Danny allegedly departed the office to fix a “clerical error” with the bank and return with checks for everyone. That was apparently the last time he was in that office. Since then former employees, vendors, and companies have filed even more lawsuits. The investigators that accepted work from Trustify, and the citizens of Florida that reached out to Trustify seeking assistance with their various cases, are just some of those affected. The extent of which has yet to be determined.
The aftermath and extent of Trustify’s activities in the State Florida may not be known for years. Private Investigative Agencies and individual Private Investigators across the state are now in a potentially precarious situation financially, and statutorily, under 493, to the clients, they accepted cases from on behalf of Trustify.
The agencies licensed and authorized to conduct work in the state may be able to rectify the situation by completing any open cases for clients they accepted on behalf of Trustify suffering only monetary loses for time spent completing assignments without reimbursement.
The individual investigators that acted on their own accepting clients from Trustify may be held accountable to The Department of Agriculture and face repercussions for any clients complaints filed over money paid to Trustify and/or unfinished casework.
493.6121 Enforcement; Investigation (6) the department may institute judicial proceedings in the appropriate circuit court seeking enforcement of this chapter or any rule or order of the department.
Trustify cannot currently be held accountable for its actions, or now inactions, in the State of Florida. The Florida Department of Agriculture’s Division of Licensing will hold those that are licensed, or unlicensed, within the State responsible. FALI membership has been and continues to be advised of this possibility at local chapter meetings, FALI-Us, FALI BootCamps, and Annual Conferences.
FALI expressed its concern about the unlicensed activity being conducted in the state to the Florida Department of Agriculture’s Division of Licensing prior to Trustify’s recent collapse to ensure that the interests of the public will be adequately served and protected. FALI has revisited this issue in an attempt to keep another such agency trying to operate in Florida from “filling the void” left by the absence of Trustify.
Any private investigative work conducted in Florida must be done in accordance with Florida Statutes Chapter 493 which regulates the licensed and unlicensed persons and businesses engaged in these fields and is therefore deemed necessary. Hence, no entity should have been able to do this in the first place nor should any such entity be allowed to do so in the State of Florida again.
There are numerous articles referring to Trustify’s ongoing downfall available online should you wish to continue following this story as it unfolds.