GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The local technology-based community organization most recently known as the National Science Institute announced Monday that it will cease it's public operations.
Chris Boden, director of the National Science Institute, announced via a Facebook post Monday morning that the group would be ending operations after a 24 year run on the west side of Grand Rapids.
The group was raided and served federal search warrants on December 21st. The Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service both confirmed to FOX 17 that they had agents participating in the investigation. Monday's posting was the first public statement from the group since the search warrants were served.
Information about the warrants is scarce as they remain sealed in federal court.
Boden outlined details of the institute's financial troubles as of late in the facebook post Monday. Saying, "Together, we sat down and realised we simply don’t have the resources, the funding, or the ability to continue chasing this dream. We just don’t have any fight left in us." In regards to the recent warrants served, he says, "The truth is far more boring, and I promise that once they let us all talk again, you’ll get the whole story. Several of us are planning on writing books about all of this. In the meantime “On the direction of legal counsel I respectfully decline to comment on an ongoing investigation”.
The facebook post says the National Science Institute will be holding a cash-only sale to auction off their entire inventory of items. After that, they say they will be closing their doors.
The full facebook post is available below.
