Coingate: Law firms reaped bounty in Noe Case(Worker money for R defense)

[barbaraann]

Article published Monday, July 25, 2005
OHIO RECORDS
Law firms reaped bounty in Noe case
$12,000 paid out from coin funds

By JOSHUA BOAK
BLADE STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS - Law firms reaped thousands of dollars in fees from the state's $50 million rare coin investment with Tom Noe, raising questions about how the coin funds were managed and whether they served as Mr. Noe's personal account.
...
As the state inspector general began to investigate the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation's coin funds in April, Mr. Noe hired the same lawyer responsible for vetting the bureau's investments and paid him from the state coin fund's checking account.

"They used the injured workers' dollars to defend the state and Tom Noe," said state Rep. Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island), the House minority leader. "And he probably filed briefs from houses bought with BWC money."

The coin funds paid a $10,000 retainer to David Robinson, a partner at Schottenstein, Zox, & Dunn and special counsel for the bureau, to defend Mr. Noe and his personal business, Vintage Coin and Collectibles. Mr. Robinson was unavailable for comment.
...
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050725/NEWS24/507250337

Mr. Robinson is a former Republican State Legislator. The article also mentions other attorneys hired to look into criminal matters. Republicans apparently think they can get away with absolutely anything with no repercussions.

[Doremus]

1. When Noe got the first check from the state, he put $1.4M into his own

checking account.

He had 40 bounced checks in the weeks prior to getting his "manna from heaven," aka public money earmarked for paying injured workers.

Instead of bankruptcy court, Noe is headed to a court of a different sort. And he likely has a trip in his future -- to federal prison.

This thing is far-reaching and we've got to make sure the stench sticks to the guilty. We've got the Repigs by the short hairs in '06, assuming the mostly-clueless Ohio Dems know how to tug.

[barbaraann]

2. Unfortunately, Noe has left Ohio.

They have taken his passport but he could still flee to Canada or Mexico or the Cayman Islands.

[acmavm]

3. If I bounced 40 checks I'd have some explaining to do.

.

[Debi]

4. Let's not forget that some of this information was known before November

and was swept under the rug by......well, not by Democrats.

[MGKrebs]

5. So let me see if I have this right...

The State WCB invested $50 million with a coin dealer, who immediately- the same day they sent him the money- stole about $4 million. There is another $10 million missing, but the coin dealer now has new homes, boats and cars after being in debt the day before Ohio sent him the money. Oh, and he started contributing a lot to Repubs.

He regularly sent "profits" back to the State, but it turns out they weren't really profits, he was just sending bits of the same money back and calling it profit.

Once the State started investigating, the coin dealer hired a lawyer- the same lawyer that the state was using to vet the investment.

And now, the coup de grace, the part that elevates this to the top tiers of the "you can't make this shit up" list, he paid the lawyer defending him with the state's own money!

That about got the highlights?

[barbaraann]

6. Yup. You've got it.

And if you had said they were doing something like that before the Toledo Blade exposed the story, you probably could have been commmitted to a mental institution for insanity.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Oh, YEAH! You'da been one a' them thar "conspeerasee nuhts!"

Republicans will undoubtedly find a way to STILL revile those who point out this Coingate flaw in Republican history.

[OzarkDem]

9. He's the "bag man"

His job was to skim money from Ohio BWC (and possibly the Ohio Turnpike) and use it as a slush fund for GOP campaigns. He's just a cog in the big GOP money laundering machine.

[athenap]

8. What else do we expect?

Let spoiled little brats run the state and we're *surprised* they decided to use state money to buy Pokemon cards?

No wait...I think Pokemon cards would be a more stable investment...at least Pokemon aren't thieves...