New York AG sues owners of former FWS Home Furnishings

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, December 11, 2012

BUFALO, N.Y. — The owners for the shuttered closeout retailer FWS Home Furnishings were sued by the state for up to $250,000 in payments by customers who never received their goods, according to a report by The Buffalo News.

The suit filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman seeks to recover the payments, estimated between $160,000 and $250,000, and to bar owners John Grimaldi and John Wanut from operating another business in the state without first posting a $500,000 performance bond, the report said.

The 50-year-old FWS closed in October, two years after Grimaldi, a former Raymour & Flanigan executive, and John Wanat, who had worked for both Raymour and FWS, acquired the retailer from Jim Nisbet and Rick Zakalik.