Ohio to get back $55M after investment scandal

The scandal helped Democrats win four of five state offices in 2006.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio will get about $55 million from the sale of rare coins and other memorabilia that were purchased by a former Republican fundraiser convicted of stealing from a state investment fund he managed, officials overseeing the liquidation said.

Even though the state will get more money back than its initial $50 million investment, it will lose out on money it should have earned in interest from the fund.

“There’s $13 million to $18 million worth of interest missing here,” said Bill Brandt, CEO of Chicago-based Development Specialists Inc. which was hired by the state to oversee the liquidation.

But Brandt said the state is fortunate to back the $50 million it invested with Tom Noe because that normally doesn’t happen.

“We’ve got to consider ourselves measurably lucky that we did that,” he said.

Noe, a coin dealer from Toledo who was given the money in 1998 and 2001 to invest in the coins and other items, was convicted of theft and other crimes and sentenced in 2006 to 18 years in prison.

Prosecutors say he stole $13.7 million from the fund he managed on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. The scandal helped Democrats win four of five statewide offices in 2006, including the governor’s office, which Republicans had held for 16 years.

Noe has appealed his conviction and sentence. A message seeking comment on the liquidation was left Friday for Bill Wilkinson, one of Noe’s attorneys.

Bureau administrator Marsha Ryan gave the agency’s board of directors an update Friday on the sale of assets, said spokesman Keary McCarthy.

The bureau is projecting net proceeds of $53.5 million to $54.9 million from the coin funds after deducting at least $6.2 million in expenses. The expenses so far consist of $1.2 millions in settlements and $4.6 million in professional services.

To recoup the money, liquidators in June 2005 began selling off the coin and memorabilia collection and negotiating settlements to lawsuits. The sale included a baseball bat once used by Hall of Fame slugger Reggie Jackson and autographs from New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle.

About $50,000 worth of coins remain to be auctioned.