Official to object to Flask's bankruptcy filing

The bankruptcy filing caused the postponement of the civil lawsuit against the former MVSD board director.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ohio Attorney General's Office will raise objections Tuesday to the validity of a bankruptcy filing by Edward A. Flask, who is being sued by the state office for $2.4 million.
"We're going to be asking a lot of questions," said Joe Case, spokesman for the attorney general, about Tuesday's meeting of Flask's creditors.
Flask, a former Mahoning Valley Sanitary District board director, filed for protection from his creditors under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code Oct. 19, three days before a civil case filed by the AG's office seeking $2.4 million from him was set to begin. Flask, of Poland, a former attorney, cited the $2.4 million lawsuit and unpaid legal and court fees from his criminal trial as the main liabilities on his bankruptcy filing.
The filing caused the civil suit to be postponed until Flask's bankruptcy matters are resolved.
Questions: "We want to know exactly what his assets are," Case said. "We want to know what is the exact rationale he's trying to put forth that he should be exempt from paying back the money involved in this case. We'll go through the process to convince the court that the [$2.4 million] should be exempt from any bankruptcy protection so we can get it kicked back to the judge and get it to trial."
Tuesday's hearing permits Flask's creditors to make financial claims against the former MVSD director.
Case expects Elaine Greaves, the trustee appointed by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William T. Bodoh in the Flask case, to schedule a separate hearing to permit the attorney general's office to plead its case against approving Flask's bankruptcy request.
In his bankruptcy filing, Flask listed $2,598,941 in liabilities and $15,801.90 in personal property assets. Flask wrote that he is a self-employed consultant earning about $3,000 a month with $3,832 in monthly expenses.
State's lawsuits: The attorney general's office filed three separate $2.4 million lawsuits against Flask, Frank D. DeJute of Niles, another former MVSD director, and the Gilbane Building Co. of Rhode Island, which served as construction manager on the water agency's $50 million capital improvement program.
The lawsuits claim Flask and DeJute improperly paid Gilbane for construction work it never performed at the MVSD. The lawsuits also accuse Flask and DeJute of improperly receiving health, life insurance and pension benefits from the water district.
A federal judge dismissed the Gilbane case in October, saying the company did not receive any illegal fees from the MVSD. The attorney general is appealing that decision.
DeJute's case is set to begin Dec. 12.
DeJute, who is defending himself though he's not a lawyer, recently asked the judge overseeing the civil case to dismiss it based on the decision of the judge in the Gilbane case. Also, DeJute requested that Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer remove the judge from his case. That request was denied because it had to be filed as an affidavit with the Supreme Court's clerk and not with the chief justice. DeJute has not decided if he will refile the request.
skolnick@vindy.com