Agents with the FBI on Wednesday morning shut down a St. Augustine Beach finance company that is accused of costing investors "untold millions of dollars," according to a source familiar with the investigation.
"I'm estimating a $200 million scandal from what I've heard, all the people I know about," said one person who claimed to have lost thousands of dollars to Lydia Cladek Inc. in the Sea Grove Town Center. "She's got connections all over this town that go back to the 1980s.
"I've pretty much written off what we gave her."
An FBI spokesman in Jacksonville confirmed Wednesday that agents were executing a search warrant at Cladek's business at 108 Sea Grove Main St.
Police crime scene tape surrounded the unmarked offices, and City of St. Augustine Beach police and Sheriff's Office deputies were in the parking lot.
The spokesman with the FBI said the affidavit that was used to get a federal search warrant for the company, which has been in business since 1998 is sealed.
"I can't characterize the investigation" or the complaint that was filed, the spokesman said. "It's part of an ongoing investigation."
Agents and officers began removing files, file cabinets and computers from the office between 8:30 and 9 Wednesday morning. They then reportedly moved on to execute a search warrant at Cladek's oceanside home in Sea Colony.
Ann King, whose Realty business is near Cladek's, said she knew nothing about her neighbors.
"We haven't talked to them at all," she said. "They do their business, we do ours.
"All we share is the parking lot."
Several sources said Cladek made her money in the "Buy Here Pay Here" car market, in which buyers with bad credit paid up to 29.5 percent on their car loans.
According to her Web site, she had locations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee, providing secondary financing for independent car dealers.
Investors -- who saw themselves more in the role of loaners -- provided funds for Cladek to buy used cars. Some of those cars went to dealers. Cladek reportedly took over other cars and resold them.
She also took over the loan notes for used car sales.
The promised return on those loans was around 18 percent.
"You know, with a big return, the risk goes up with it," said Barry Tuttle, who invested $70,000 with Cladek and didn't sound optimistic about getting his money back.
"I just thought this was different," he added.
Tuttle said he and his wife met Cladek through some friends, who had been doing business with her.
"She was very cordial; very intelligent and pleasant," he said. "Probably, Bernie Madoff was, too."
Though Madoff was imprisoned for a scheme that cost investors billions of dollars, Tuttle said he believes Cladek's numbers also will be substantial.
"There are people with some big money in it. People with millions," he said.
Not everyone wanted to be identified, including one alleged victim who said horror stories abound over the failed investments.
"We're hearing about people's mothers being pulled out of nursing homes," he said. "There are people who have lost sizable amounts of money going to live with friends."
One group of investors reportedly lives at Serenata Beach in Ponte Vedra Beach. A source said that group alone has put millions of dollars into Cladek's business and hired the law firm of Akerman Senterfitt to help recover as much as possible.
Calls to the law firm's offices in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami were not returned.
One person familiar with the investigation said Cladek has "proven difficult to find."
Repeated phone calls to her home and business were not answered.
Rumors have been circulating for more than a week that the FBI was investigating Cladek and her business, but none of them could be confirmed until Wednesday morning.
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