Chief found guilty in investment scam

McLean said he didn’t
intentionally do anything wrong.

COLUMBUS (AP) — The former investment chief for Ohio’s insurance fund for injured workers pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he failed to report $500 in gifts from a New York investment firm that was doing business with the agency.

It’s the 19th conviction in an investment scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that rocked state politics, leading directly and indirectly to convictions on ethics violations of former Gov. Bob Taft and his chief of staff.

James McLean, who led the bureau’s investment operation from 2003 until he was fired in 2005, pleaded guilty to failing to properly report a Chicago Cubs ticket, a meal at MK Restaurant in Chicago, a private tailgate party and transportation from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Anne Taylor sentenced McLean to $500 in fines and court costs. He faced up to $1,000 in fines and six months in prison for the ethics lapse, a first-degree misdemeanor.

McLean’s cooperation with prosecutors in their efforts to investigate corruption at the bureau contributed to the sentence he received, said David Freel, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission.

His defense

McLean 53, of the Columbus suburb of Dublin, said he has spent 160 hours and $5,500 of his own time and money helping prosecutors in their efforts to investigate corruption at the bureau.

He said he did not intentionally do anything wrong. He said he had never received ethics training while at the bureau, and that he interpreted the state’s ethics laws as not requiring the reporting of gifts and meals received while traveling out of state.

Both he and his lawyer characterized his act as a technical error.

Taylor said in court that the ethics statute under which McLean was charged is complicated to understand.

Freel said the commission makes information readily available to state officials about the ethics law, as well as providing opinions to anyone who is confused by the requirements.

He said there was no record that McLean sought advice from the commission, the governor’s office, or the inspector general.

Both state and federal investigations are still ongoing, Freel said.