Noe involved in 'absolute theft of funds,' Ohio's attorney general says

[deminks]

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050721/BREAKINGNEWS/50721027

COLUMBUS — Tom Noe converted millions of dollars in Ohio money for personal use, while using a “Ponzi” scheme to hide what was taking place within his $50 million state-funded rare-coin venture, the state’s top attorney charged today.

Attorney General Jim Petro said there is evidence that Mr. Noe may have pocketed nearly $4 million in money invested with him through the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, including a $1.375 million wire transfer to Tom Noe, Inc., a company Mr. Noe owned and controlled, on the same day he received the first of two $25 million payments from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation in 1998.


Mr. Petro asked a judge today to further restrict the sale of Mr. Noe’s assets, and amend the state’s lawsuit against the Toledo-area coin dealer to include charges of breach of contract, negligence, and unjust enrichment.

“Over the next several days leading into this week, we came to believe that there was an absolute theft of funds going on,” Mr. Petro said at a news conference today.

[Iowa]

1. Money given to a coin dealer isn't "invested"...

it is gambled. Coins are on the fringe, only one step above a bookie, and the state employee(s) responsible for mishandling the money should pay the consequences for placing so much of the taxpayers' money in the hands of a coin dealer. Heads should roll for this stupidity and corruption.

[roguevalley]

2. ha ha ha. now impeach your governor and the repugs that helped

him, then put them in jail.

[CatWoman]

3. Coins, cash exchanged by managers

Records also show Noe authorized loan to himself

By STEVE EDERand CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

COLUMBUS — Millions of dollars in coins and cash exchanged hands among managers of Tom Noe’s $50 million rare-coin venture in the days leading up to his admission that up to $13 million was missing from the state-funded operation, documents released yesterday show.

Nearly 15,000 pages of coin-fund transaction records provide evidence that there were hundreds of trades among the people charged with managing the state’s rare-coin investment throughout its seven-year existence.

The documents also show Mr. Noe authorized millions of dollars in loans from the state’s Capital Coin funds — including $285,000 to himself — while using state money to foot the bill for legal work to fight public records requests to release coin-fund documents.

Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to release the transaction records, siding with The Blade in a lawsuit filed against the agency after its refusal to comply with a request under Ohio’s public records laws.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050721/NEWS24/50721010

[barb162]

4. taking it out of the Work Comp system...what a slug

[Lindsay]

5. Marcy Kaptur spent her 5 minutes on the floor of the house

tonight talking about all the tentacles this thing is growing.

Apparently a goodly amount of the funds Mr. Noe skimmed went into the Bush campaign.

And Diebold isn't looking any too clean...not to mention Mr. Blackwell.

Pass the popcorn, please. :popcorn:

[Raster]

12. Good!!! I hope they ALL fry for their misdeeds. Especially blackwell...

uncle tom, collaborating, slime dog mutha. I hope his ass ends up in the worst cellblock in the state.

[WhiteTara]

16. Oh I love to clean house

sweep those dirty repukes out, fill the prisons. Maybe Pelican Bay will have a few openings for these vile creatures that have stolen our country.

[newscott]

6. See when they call it "outright theft" it sounds like they are trying to

encapsulate Noe and disassociate him from the other parts of this burgeoning scandal. I say they are trying to bury this story by sinking him alone. I hope that does not happen. This nebulous web stinks from start to finish and they had better get everyone involved.

[barbaraann]

8. I have never heard the phrase "absolute theft" in my life and I'm

a senior citizen. It really does look like an attempt to say there's no conspiracy.

[TahitiNut]

10. I agree. It smells of 'damage control' rather than justice.

Fat Cat Ohio politics ... as usual. (One step sleazier than Michigan's cockroach infestation.)

[OzarkDem]

7. It sure helped Petro, though

He got a nice chunk of change in "campaign contributions". Petro deserves to go to jail himself.

[Kolesar]

13. &Noe was able to bundle $20,000 as a "Pioneer" for Beast/Cheney 2004

The gop scheme where you give $2,000 to each of ten friends to henceforth contribute to the political campaign. He obviously stole that money from the Ohio BWC fund.

[Bozita]

9. The Toledo Blade still does old-fashioned investigative journalism

I smell another Pulitzer.

[snot]

11. So, will Mr. Noe's campaign donees be disgorging his contributions?

so as to reimburse the funds to those they rightly belong to?

It's a fundamental legal principal that a thief can pass no title (i.e., since Noe didn't own the funds, those he gave them to can have no right to retain them).

[cmd]

14. More here - he began stealing the first day!

http://www.timesreporter.com/left.php?ID=43851&r=4

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coin dealer suspected of stealing at least $4 million
By MARK NIQUETTE, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – Coin dealer Thomas W. Noe began stealing the first day he received state money, and authorities have identified $4 million so far in suspected thefts, Attorney General Jim Petro said Thursday.

In fact, based on the evidence reviewed so far, Petro said he thinks the $50 million Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation investment in rare coins never made money – and that Noe converted state funds to pay off personal debts and possibly buy expensive homes, cars and other items.
Petro said new evidence from records received two weeks ago suggests fraudulent activity began March 31, 1998 – the day the bureau gave Noe the first of two $25 million installments.
(snip)
On the same day, Noe wired $1.375 million from the coin fund to his business account – which had been running a negative balance and from which about 40 checks had bounced, the lawsuit said.

Noe also made a payment from his private business account of nearly $400,000 that day for an outstanding commercial loan, officials said.

[LittleWoman]

15. Cynic that I am

I think the main purpose of this statement of Petro's is to put himself on the side of the "good guys" and distance himself as far as possible from the whole stinking mess. Several weeks ago someone who works in Petro's office opined in a conversation that this whole thing would blow over in a week. At the time I though that they were running for cover because even then things looked pretty bad, not as bad as they do now. There is no point in going after Taft at this point except as a source of information. His term is over next year and he cannot run again. I sincerely doubt that he would run for any Ohio office after being governor and the two Senate seats are held by republicans. Of course the bush administration could appoint him to some job where he would not need Senate confirmation, but I doubt that as well. Taft is toast and it would appear so is his legacy.

[Supersedeas]

17. and why won't they discuss the connection to the Bush campaign