WARM MINERAL SPRINGS — An image of Dr. Grigory Pogrebinsky on TV, holding a $20 bill and stating it’s too little to pay for admission to Warm Mineral Springs, is just one of many rumors circulating throughout the international community. Another is he single-handedly will take over the 81-acre day spa with its 87-degree, mineral-rich lake and fire everyone to build up his own empire.

“These are just rumors,” said the 66-year-old physician from Brooklyn, who spent $1.4 million buying 16 acres of vacant property that borders the spa jointly owned by the city of North Port and Sarasota County. “People are afraid of development of any kind. They don’t understand it and haven’t talked to me, so instead they are spreading rumors. The fact is I do not have the means to set prices at the spa. The governments own it and they should be deciding the prices and who can work there, not me.”