FBI Investigates Ohio Brewing Equipment Manufacturer

We recently reported on SysTech Stainless Works, a brewing equipment manufacturer in Canton, Ohio that unexpectedly closed last year, leaving a lot of start-up breweries with unfulfilled commitments that they’d paid for.

And now the FBI may be getting involved.

Once heralded as one of the region’s most exciting startups, SysTech Stainless Works and its founders Jason and Amanda Spurrell, have now been accused of defrauding clients who had paid deposits for new brewing systems which they never received.

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office has been looking into a number of complaints they’ve received from craft breweries in multiple states, and what they found was so concerning that they’re turning the matter over to the FBI’s regional office in Manassas, Virginia.

Sinistral Brewing is also based in Manassas, and is one of the breweries that’s filed a lawsuit against SysTech. According to the brewery, it lost a deposit totaling $70,165 when the company closed last September.

In the lawsuit, Sinistral contends “that Jason and Amanda created this business as a means to get money from breweries and did not have the intention of fulfilling the equipment orders”.

Also taking action against SysTech is Dover, Ohio-based Hoodletown Brewing who, as we’ve reported, claim that they lost a $40,000 deposit for a new five-barrel system.

And the Drinks Business is reporting that Ohio-based Lock 15 Brewing , Moose Lake Brewing in Minnesota, North Carolina’s Sideways Brewing, and A Little Madness Brewing in Pensacola, Florida have also filed their own legal actions.