Fonon Corp. (fka FNON)

[pitboss22]

I don't think Nikitin needs much advice about lying to investors or running a con game.

Here is a story about another Nikitin business, same old tricks - From the Orland Sentinel

Once-promising solar company will see assets auctioned off

Lawsuits, debt plague Lake Mary operation

At its peak, BlueChip Energy LLC boasted 200 employees at its Lake Mary solar-power manufacturing plant, nearly $23million in annual revenue and an ambitious plan to build the state's largest solar-energy farm in Lake County.

But the seemingly forward-looking company has gone dark. What remains are a slew of lawsuits and a warehouse of solar panels, office furniture and manufacturing equipment bought on credit and now being liquidated to repay millions of dollars in debts.

An auction scheduled for Tuesday at BlueChip's Rinehart Road facility aims to repay the largest claim from a subsidiary of SunTrust for $2.5 million owed for equipment. Federal and state court records describe a company that has no money and owes more than $16 million to banks and creditors as well as customers, vendors and suppliers. Court records show that the company was accumulating debt, failing to pay suppliers and produced counterfeit products.

UL (Underwriters Laboratories), the independent scientific company that tests and certifies countless products for safety, from toasters to TVs to industrial equipment, announced earlier this year that solar panels sold under the company's Advanced Solar Photonics label were counterfeit.

"As soon as we hear about a counterfeit issue, we investigate it immediately," Drengenberg said. "We are very focused on anti-counterfeiting measures because that protects the public."

Court records identify the leadership of BlueChip, and its related companies (Advanced Solar Photonics, Bluechip Power and Sfinkx), as Dmitri and Svetlana Nikitin of Longwood. The couple have several registered corporations, according to state records. BlueChip Energy also used the names Advanced Solar Photonics and BlueChip Power.

By the time UL announced the panels were counterfeit, several companies were lining up claims for money owed.

Dmitri Nikitin lost a judgment for $387,475 in a federal case filed by Optowave Co. Ltd., a South Korean company that had bought high-precision equipment from Nikitin to manufacture infrared filters for consumer electronics, including cellphones. Court documents show that Optowave alleged fraudulent behavior in its contract with Nikitin.

State and federal court records show more than $14 million owed to creditors and $6,000 in wages to former employees, as well as Seminole County property taxes.

In one of the documents, a federal judge had criticized Nikitin for destroying key documents in bad faith.

A federal judge has appointed a receiver to liquidate all the assets, and Moecker Auctions in Hollywood will run the auction at the Lake Mary facility.

Attempts to reach company officials through phone numbers and email addresses were unsuccessful. Attorneys for BlueChip did not return phone calls.