In 2004, Michael J. Colonna had a vision to create a drug discovery supercomputer facility owned by a company he established, called Gencom. The Gencom facility was to have had 127 supercomputer systems in separate clean rooms at an undisclosed location in the Irvine Spectrum Business Park, Irvine, CA. Michael purportedly developed and patented several gene analysis software programs called Black Widow (BW) and GENeSYS that significantly shortened the time necessary to research new drugs by using supercomputer clusters that performed calculations at peta-flop speeds. Michael presented information about his proposed facility at the 2005 International Bio-IT World Conference where he was a Guest Speaker along side Craig J. Venter (discoverer of the human genome). Michael’s lecture handouts were part of the materials he provided each “investor” – to provide credibility for Gencom. He also provided copies of a Gencom branding analysis worth $50k, developed by Yyes, Inc – which we later learned, Michael never paid for and was later sued by Yyes, Inc.
Michael would never divulge The location of the Gencom facility as it was purportedly “secret and protected” due to the sensitive nature of the pharmaceutical data maintained on the systems. The FDA purportedly considered the data sensitive enough to be a potential national security risk so they supposedly required that there be no signage on the facility and the location be kept secret. Michael told investors that the facility was paid for using the proceeds of a $300 Million dollar personal trust fund established using royalty proceeds he’d earned for software he’d written and previously sold to Intel. A portion of the remaining trust fund proceeds, along with income generated by Gencom, was to have repaid legal fees, personal loans, start-up lines of credit, business credit cards, and investments provided by investors.
The Gencom website (www.genomiccomputation.com) was taken down by Michael in June 2008 when Michael was receiving investors’s demands for payment. He announced the sale of Gencom to a Swiss firm, and his retirement from Gencom. At that time we learned that he was also being evicted from his rental home for non-payment of rent for the past 15 months.
There are four investors who have now filed complaints against Michael J. Colonna and “Gencom”. All together we’re collectively owed close to $750,000 as evidenced by Promissory Notes, complex Joint Tenancy and Revenue Sharing Agreements, or through Share Purchase Agreements and Stock certificates issued to several of us.
Michael previously worked for KPMG, Inc. in the late 90’s. During investigations, we learned that none of his KPMG Resume credentials could be validated and that Michael had several aliases and used several Social Security numbers over the past 10 years. He’s also ran a prior business scams where he solicited “start-up” funds from friends for a company called Isotek, Inc. Michael also owns a consulting business called World Class IT or Advanced Computers Sciences, Inc. in CA (www.worldclassit.net) and is actively soliciting new business in the Orange County area. He’s recently posted a new consulting services webpage on wikidot.com (http://michael-colonna.wikidot.com) so investors seeking computer consultants should be wary of ANY computer consulting services provided by Michael J. Colonna.
If you’ve been scammed out of money by Mr. Colonna, we advise you to file a claim with the authorities (FBI, District Attorney, Office of the Inspector General) so collectively we can stop him from taking money from other unsuspecting people.
** Disclaimer: This post was written by a guest author. The information contained in this article should not be taken as a fact, but only as an indicator. The story represents the authors individual experience with the subject in question. As such it can be true or misrepresented and in some cases even purely fictional in an attempt to harm the company or individual in question. You are advised to use your own judgment to realize the truth behind the story.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:09 am
In the future you should be more careful and perform some due diligence before posting a headline such as this. My company, GenCom, Inc., is a commercial general contracting company that has been in business for over 22 years and prides itself on its well deserved reputation and relationship with its customers.
A headline such as this may lead some people to believe there is a problem with my company. There is not now, nor has there ever been.
I can assure you that my GenCom does in fact exist and has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COMPANY YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT! It is irresponsible reporting such as this that can do irreparable harm to a business and its good name.
To avoid any further action please change the headline to be more specific as to the business the article refers.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
It’s a pity you have the same name as the firm mentioned in this complaint. Gencom, Inc. was a California corporation that did exist at the time the investments were made. Hopefully readers can see that the bogus Gencom, Inc. that was owned by Michael J. Colonna who professed to have supercomputer facilities located in Irvine, CA and is not the same company that you own.