Orlando-based private equity fund Mirabilis Ventures Inc. announced yesterday that it's winding down operations and has divested all its operating assets. Mirabilis was an investor in defunct professional employer organization Presidion Solutions.

Mirabilis "has shut down all operations. It's in collection mode," said Bob O'Malley, a spokesman for Mirabilis. The company has "commenced collection actions against companies that owe it money and it's trying to receive some of the promised returns on investments that it made."

Mirabilis was an investor in Presidion, but was never an owner, O'Malley said. Presidion dissolved on July 1, he said. Prior to Mirabilis' investment there was a large sum of unpaid payroll taxes, but O'Malley said he couldn't comment on that because it's a Presidion issue.

Presidion could not be reached for comment. Former telephone numbers for the PEO are no longer in service.

In March, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper said a federal grand jury was investigating Mirabilis. However, the newspaper reported in July that the U.S. Justice Department dropped five tax lawsuits against the company.

Mirabilis was also the subject of lawsuits by other PEOs it acquired and other companies, including an English sports team. On Oct. 11, Mirabilis said 24 lawsuits had been filed against it since the beginning of 2007 and that it has settled 16 of them. Of the eight remaining lawsuits, Mirabilis said it made counterclaims for monies not repaid of approximately $14 million and total losses in excess of $285 million.