TOLEDO, Ohio — Bitwise, the California tech incubator and job-training company that had planned to open an innovation center in Toledo's Jefferson Center building, is under federal criminal investigation, according to a report in the Fresno Bee.
The Fresno newspaper published a story Wednesday that said three sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters that federal authorities have opened an investigation into Bitwise, which is based in Fresno, and its leadership.
The newspaper reported that federal investigators have interviewed several people about the Bitwise case.
It is unclear what laws the investigators believe Bitwise officials may have violated.
On June 15, Bitwise notified 18 Lucas County-based employees their jobs had been terminated.
The move came about two weeks after after the California tech incubator and job-training company furloughed its entire workforce.
The jobs eliminated in Toledo included the senior vice president of city expansion, vice president, program manager, account executive, financial analyst, receptionist and janitorial staff.
The company also announced June 15 that the company's planned workforce development and innovation center in a renovated Jefferson Center on Jefferson Avenue in downtown Toledo was closed. The company also closed another Bitwise location at 413 Adams St..
Bitwise Industries announced in February, 2021, that it planned to open a workforce development and innovation center in Toledo.
BitWise partnered with ProMedica to develop Toledo's Bitwise Industries, which officials said would provide job training and development, along with incubation services for tech companies and businesses in other industries.
Officials said the project would create hundreds of regional jobs.
Plans called for the project to occupy a renovated Jefferson Center, a 1911 building at 1300 Jefferson Avenue that initially served as a post office.
After it was a post office, Toledo Public Schools owned the building for many years. TPS used the building for a vocational rehabilitation school, among other things, until selling it to ProMedica in 2019. Renovation of the former Jefferson Center began in 2022.
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