A thorny ownership dispute over a high-value Tampa communications company will return to state court after a failed attempt to resolve the conflict through bankruptcy.
In a hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Roberta Colton tossed out the $86 million Chapter 11 filed in November 2024 by Smart Communications founder Jon Logan after repeatedly raising concerns that bankruptcy was not the appropriate forum to settle ownership litigation.
Only a few arm’s length creditors existed in the Chapter 11, and none opposed dismissal of the case, court documents show.
An attorney for Logan did not immediately return a request for comment. The question of who controls Smart Communications returns to Sarasota County Circuit Court, where Logan and his mother have been litigating it for Janice Logan claims her son filed for bankruptcy to derail that legal dispute, which was scheduled to go to trial shortly before the Chapter 11, according to court documents. Jon Logan exploited the bankruptcy process in an attempt to dispossess her of her shares and claim sole ownership of the company, she alleges in court documents.
Smart Communications is a lucrative business with an estimated $70 million in revenue last year. The platform provides communication services to inmates in more than 120 correctional facilities, a model created while Jon Logan was serving time in prison.
The company’s liabilities are primarily insider debts and attorneys’ fees resulting from his “litigation tactics,” Janice Logan alleges. Filings show he owes almost $1.5 million to Akerman attorney Eyal Berger for work performed as special counsel over the last three months and $71,500 to Tampa law firm Stichter Riedel Blain & Postler.
Jon Logan cited his legal troubles in support of the Chapter 11, saying the company has been “handcuffed” through injunctions that have frozen assets and created short-term liquidity issues, according to court documents filed this month.
Trey Engelke, an investor who claims 10% ownership in Smart Communications, made similar allegations that Logan relied on “fictitious” debts to justify the bankruptcy and take control of the business.
Engelke is prepared to file a civil complaint against Jon Logan regarding his ownership, according to his attorney, John Anthony of Tampa law firm Anthony and Partners. Several cases filed by Engelke have been pending in Tampa for years, but the bankruptcy filing prompted him to retain new counsel and press the matter forward, Anthony said.
Engelke provided capital and resources to scale the business dating back to 2010 when Jon Logan was released from prison, he claims. He also claims Jon Logan deliberately orchestrated a “shifting shell game” to keep him and Janice Logan from having their rightful interest in the business.
“The acorn was one-tenth mine, so the oak is one-tenth mine. The shifting shell game does not change the fact that I own 10% today as I did then,” said Engelke.
