BANKRUPTCY COURT Flask put on hot seat

The former MVSD director cites a $2.4 million civil lawsuit as his main financial liability.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Edward A. Flask repeatedly rubbed his eyes as he answered question after question about his personal finances.
With each question, Flask became more agitated as he struggled to remember the intimate details of what is left of his finances and possessions.
All that remain are some clothing, jewelry he cannot find, three desks, $300 in a checking account and $1.90 in his savings account.
Flask, of Poland, answered the questions about his finances Tuesday during an initial meeting of his creditors.
What happened: Flask, a former board director with the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District and a once-prominent local attorney, 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 Ohio attorney general's office was to begin. The suit is seeking $2.4 million from Flask.
The filing caused the civil suit to be postponed until Flask's bankruptcy matters are resolved.
Flask cited the $2.4 million lawsuit and unpaid legal and court fees from a criminal trial, which centered on his conduct as an MVSD board member, as the main liabilities on his bankruptcy filing.
The attorney general's office was the only creditor to attend the hearing. The AG's office had four representatives at the hearing.
Deadline: Flask's creditors and Elaine Greaves, a trustee appointed by U.S. Bankruptcy Court to this case, have until Feb. 4 to file objections to the bankruptcy claim.
The attorney general's office questions the validity of Flask's claim and will have a closed-door hearing Jan. 24 with Flask to ask him more questions about his finances.
In his bankruptcy filing, Flask listed $2,598,941 in liabilities and $15,801.90 in personal property assets. Flask said he is a self-employed business consultant who earns about $3,000 a month. His bankruptcy filing lists $3,832 in monthly expenses for him.
"I'm a consultant; any kind," he said to Greaves during questioning. "When people call upon me to do certain things, I do them."
At one point during questioning by Michelle Sutter, an assistant attorney general, she asked what happened to nearly $1.8 million Flask received between 1991 and 1997 from the former Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Ohio for consulting work.
Flask said, "It's gone; he should know," as he pointed to an assistant attorney general sitting near Sutter. "People took away a lot of it."
His income: Flask said his annual income fluctuated from $30,000 in 1999 to $8,000 in 2000 to $30,000 this year. In 2000, Flask served 90 days in Trumbull County Jail after being convicted on nine charges related to improperly accepting $2 million in cash and gifts from vendors that did business with the MVSD.
"I don't remember what it was for," Flask said in response to a question about how he earned $8,000 in 2000. "It's so small, it's pathetic."
Flask said he lives with his daughter, helping her out with some of the bills by paying about $500 a month. Flask said he does not own any furnishings and has four pieces of jewelry, adding that he doesn't know where they are located. He maintains an office on Boardman-Canfield Road, which has three desks, and drives a 1999 Oldsmobile, which he leases.
The attorney general's office filed three separate lawsuits in August 1998 against Flask; Frank D. DeJute of Niles, another former MVSD board 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 contend Flask and DeJute improperly paid Gilbane for construction work never performed at the MVSD, which provides water from Meander Reservoir to about 300,000 Mahoning and Trumbull county residents.
A federal judge dismissed the Gilbane case in October, saying the company did not receive any illegal fees from the MVSD. DeJute's case is set for Jan. 7.
skolnick@vindy.com