Action News Jax confronts Latitude 360 CEO who owes millions

Latitude 360 CEO Brent Brown is accused of owing millions of dollars to employees, contractors, landlords and lenders.

An Action News Jax investigation also uncovered evidence of his company’s failure to pay federal, state and local taxes.

Since Action News Jax first started investigating failed hotspot Latitude 360 in October, Brown has managed to avoid our cameras – until Wednesday.

A source told Action News Jax that Brown was picking up a check Wednesday morning for furniture he sold at Encore Décor in Mandarin.

"This is not appropriate,” said Brown, as we started asking questions.

Action News Jax questioned Brown about his business’s unpaid taxes.

“We were looking for funding. We need funding. The company needs funding,” said Brown.

Action News Jax broke the news back in February that the State Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into Brown’s company.

“We’re not going to rush an investigation,” said State Attorney Angela Corey’s spokesperson Jackelyn Barnard on Wednesday.

Action News Jax asked Brown how he could afford flights to Dubai while his former employees remain unpaid.

“Because we have a franchise partner there,” said Brown.

Multiple employees told Action News Jax that Brown told them they were getting raises weeks before Latitude 360 shut its doors.

“I am honest with my employees. I employed them for over five years,” said Brown.

Former employee Andrew Cabrera told Action News Jax in a text message,

That is complete garbage. He flew down from his condo in New York to hold a meeting with all the staff of the Jacksonville location of Latitude 360 a couple of weeks before they closed the doors, and told every one of us to our faces that we shouldn't believe what we were hearing about the company, that we were 'safe' and had 'nothing to worry about.'"

Related stories:

• Judge rules in favor of landlord to evict Latitude 360 Pittsburgh
• Action News Jax Investigates Latitude 360: Where'd the money go?
• Suit: Latitude 360 CEO traded now-worthless stock for Aston Martin
• State Attorney's Office investigating Latitude 360
• Some Latitude 360 customers get charged January membership fee
• Latitude 360 closes its doors on the Southside

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