Business Fraud & Torts

When a deal was built on lies — money invested on false promises, assets diverted, partners deceived — contract remedies are only the beginning. Florida's business-tort toolbox is powerful, and used precisely, it changes the economics of the case.

Civil theft: the treble-damages hammer

Where funds were knowingly obtained or used with felonious intent, § 772.11, Florida Statutes, authorizes threefold actual damages and attorneys' fees — after a statutory 30-day written demand. The statute has teeth on both edges (fee exposure runs against claims without substantial support), so it must be used with judgment. We know when the facts genuinely support it and how to build the demand and the proof.

The broader toolbox

• Fraudulent inducement and misrepresentation — false statements of fact that brought you into the deal.
• Conversion — wrongful control over your specific money or property.
• Tortious interference — outsiders poisoning your contracts or business relationships.
• Constructive trusts and equitable liens — following your money into whatever it bought.

Built on evidence, not adjectives

Fraud cases are won with paper trails: bank records, texts and emails, entity filings, and witnesses who were in the room. Our practice is to assemble that record early — including preservation demands — so the complaint lands with the proof already marshaled.