The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Furious tenants at a Blake Road-based storage facility have been unable to recover thousands in deposits and pre-paid rents that are now entangled in an escalating Supreme Court battle between the property’s current and former operator.

Some unit owners have even threatened to make a formal complaint to the Royal Bahamas Police Force about the inability to recover their funds, asserting to Tribune Business that the “story keeps on changing” or they are met with “silence” in response to their requests for refunds.

The increasingly-heated situation surrounding the 735-unit facility, now named Blake Road Storage, stems from the summer 2025 ousting of its former operator, Store Away Ltd, by Mogul Trading Ltd, its actual owner, which acted over fears the Department of Inland Revenue was about to auction-off the site to recover $1.165m in unpaid real property taxes.

After Justice Camille Darville-Gomez, in a July 16, 2025, verdict ordered that Mogul Trading, whose principals include Lyford Cay philanthropist and investor, Philippe Bonnefoy, receive “immediate possession” of the 3.543-acre site, Store Away subsequently contacted its now-former clients on August 12 to deal with the return of deposits and pre-paid rent it had received.

Unit holders were given the options of having their deposits transferred directly to Blake Road Storage if they wanted to continue under the present operators/owners (Mogul Trading), or have these refunded directly to their bank accounts. However, the ongoing legal fight between Store Away and Mogul Trading has prevented this from occurring.

Legal documents seen by this newspaper claim that Store Away, whose principals are Larry Ferguson and his wife, Brenda, is holding a combined $260,247 in deposits and rental pre-payments received from unit holders before its ousting by Mogul Trading.

The latter is alleging that these funds, which were supposed to be held in escrow or trust for the unit holders, were not “ring fenced” and instead “commingled” with Store Away’s general business account and operating expenses.

The papers also reveal that Mogul Trading has applied to the Supreme Court for a Chabra injunction, which is used to freeze assets held by third parties not named as a claimant or defendant in legal disputes, plus an Order permitting it to “pierce the corporate veil”. The identity of the third-party or parties was not disclosed, but accountants hired by Mogul Trading are asserting there are signs the deposits and pre-paid rents have suffered “systematic dissipation” by Store Away.

Donovan Gibson, an attorney with Munroe & Associates, who is acting as Store Away’s legal representative, declined to comment when contacted by Tribune Business on the grounds that the dispute is still live before the Supreme Court.

However, this newspaper understands that Store Away and its principals vehemently deny that there has been any depletion or dilution of the deposit and pre-paid rent it is holding in trust.

Store Away also views Mogul Trading’s demands for a near-instant transfer of these assets as overly-aggressive and unreasonable. Given that it was almost-instantly thrown out of the Blake Road premises by the Supreme Court’s July 2025 ruling, its staff have been unable to access the records and files needed to perform the necessary reconciliations of client accounts.

Among the issues that must still be addressed and answered are which clients have paid deposits and how much; who has not; who is owing monies to Store Away for unpaid rent that may have to be deducted from these deposits; and who wants to remain with Blake Road Storage/Mogul Trading and those who want to be refunded directly. As a result, Store Away wants the Supreme Court to rule on and address these matters, possibly via an Order appointing an independent accountant to examine the books.

All this is unlikely to matter to unit owners who are simply seeking a refund of monies due to them. Given the ongoing legal battle, though, a complaint to the Royal Bahamas Police Force is unlikely to progress the return of their deposits and/or pre-paid rent.

E-mails seen by Tribune Business show that on August 12, 2025, and again on September 22, 2025, Store Away contacted unit holders seeking instructions on what to do with their deposits. Victoria Roker, its office administrator dealing with accounts receivables, wrote on the latter date that “we have received requests from former clients indicating a preference for security deposits to be returned directly to them”.

She gave them options of a direct transfer to Blake Road Storage, or a refund to their bank account, “in order to address the matter of security deposit returns in a timely manner”, asking that they choose their preferred refund method by September 26, 2025. 

However, nothing happened, prompting one frustrated unit holder, Jean Paul Michielsen, to write on October 17, 2025: “Where is our money?

“This has lasted long enough,” he added. “If we do not get refunded by Wednesday, October 22, this will be handed over to police.

“This isn’t about money. This is about the constant nonsense and you not following the contractual stipulations we all agreed upon. Enough already of this nonsense and we, as duped customers, are no longer going to stand for it.”

Ms Roker replied: “Kindly be advised that this is a legal matter in the Supreme Court and we are unable to discuss further.” 

This sparked a further riposte from Mr Michielsen, who wrote: “Nonsense. This matter was concluded quite some time ago.

“Why would you send out an e-mail asking us how we want to be reimbursed and then retract these reimbursements. You… are taking us, your clients, for fools. Pay us now.”

Mr Michielsen, when contacted by Tribune Business, said his concerns were based on principle rather than the sum he was owed, which he described as immaterial. He added that a police complaint would only be pursued if he could locate sufficient other unit owners in the same predicament to form a “class action” type case.

“We need to get our deposits back from Store Away,” he asserted. “This has now been two months where they say if you want a refund tell us, and we’ll refund it to your account. The story keeps on changing as to how they don’t have the funds. Then, all of a sudden, silence.

“It’s just the principle. It’s not a lot of money; it’s $300, but it’s starting to get to me. How many people out there don’t know if they will see these funds again? We still haven’t received anything. No one wants to talk. They keep changing their story.

“I vacated my unit because I don’t need it any more. I know a lot of people have cancelled so they have quite a few people moving out. The new operators thought it was a glorious opportunity to put a 25 percent increase on the rent even though there’s now an abundance of rental units available with Sebas and a couple of other guys building units.”

Don Johnson, in a September 16, 2025, affidavit sworn on Store Away’s behalf, conceded that he did not have sufficient records to determine what the storage unit operator’s “other expenses” and “company withdrawals” were for during its 2023 financial year.

“With respect to the 2023 profit and loss statement, I was unable despite reasonable efforts to obtain supporting records including but not limited to cheque books, vendor files and related financial documents,” he alleged. “Accordingly, I prepared the said statement by reference to the 2023 bank statements from Bank of The Bahamas.”

These showed gross income of $1.455m and total expenses reaching $1.461m, resulting in a net loss of $6,511 for 2023. Mr Johnson said he had been able to “verify’ $80,177 worth of deposits paid by rental tenants to Store Away, meaning that their contract specifically identified them, their unit number and the sums they had paid.

However, there were hundreds of tenants for whom no written contract can be located.

“As such, no confirmation could be made as to whether these tenants paid a security deposit,” Mr Johnson added. “Approximately 200 tenants and their respective units would need to be contacted directly in order to confirm whether a security deposit was paid.” 

He was, though, able to tie $94,066 in pre-paid tent to the correct unit owners.”
Mr Owen, the accountant hired by Mogul Trading to “conduct an independent inspection” of Store Away’s financial records for the first eight months of 2025, alleged in a September 24, 2025, affidavit that Mr Johnson had acknowledged the ousted operator held $166,181 in security deposits and $94,066 in pre-paid rent.

Noting that the latter had reported just $80,177 worth of deposits, or less than 50 percent of the total, as being confirmed, Mr Owen added: “The aggregate of security deposits and pre-payments amounts to $260,247, the bulk of which is not genuinely in dispute between the parties in my view.

“Despite this acknowledgement, my review of the bank statements and accounting records show no evidence of ring fencing of the admitted deposits and pre-payments. The monies were commingled in Store Away’s general operating account, treated as income and dissipated through expenditure and cash withdrawals.”

Store Away is known to deny this, but Mr Owen said its profit and loss ledger for the first eight months of 2025 prior to its ousting showed a net loss of $119,568 based on total income of $860,033 and overall expenses of $979,601.

“Within these expenses is a significant line item for cash expenses of $571,730,” Mr Owen asserted, “confirming that substantial amounts were spent in cash rather than preserved as trust funds… From the detailed bank records, I also observed that aggregate cash and cheque withdrawals were done without clear beneficiary details.

“The pattern of withdrawals, particularly after the court’s Order on July 14, 2025, is consistent in my view of attempts to deplete balances and avoid preservation of funds despite certain funds being earmarked as trust and/or escrow funds.

“In my professional opinion, Store Away’s financial conduct is inconsistent with basic trust accounting obligations. While Don Johnson has admitted to $174,065 in deposits and pre-payments, with the remainder of $260,247 to be confirmed, no effort has been made to ring fence or safeguard these sums. Instead, the financial records demonstrate systematic dissipation and misapplication.”

Tribune Business understands that Store Away’s position is that Mogul Trading needs to “hold off” on the deposit issue, and instead allow unit tenants to continue paying rent until the Supreme Court determines the matter rather than pressuring them. 

Ashley Williams is the attorney representing Mogul Trading.