3 more charged in Ohio agency probe

3 more charged in Ohio agency probe

	Published : Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:40 By : Agencies Print this Story

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Three former employees of the state's insurance fund for injured workers were charged with accepting golf outings, meals and other items from investment firms seeking to do business with the state, authorities said Tuesday.

The charges were announced by a task force investigating scandals at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation that shook former Gov. Bob Taft's administration and was blamed in part for Republicans' slide from statewide office last November.

The latest accusations involve three employees who worked in the bureau's investment division -- Fred Zigler of Cincinnati, a former senior investment officer; Peter Hoffmannbeck of Hilliard, a former senior equity trader; and Keith Zolkowski, a former investment officer and equity trader.

The three men are accused of accepting payments from various investment firms in the form of golf outings and other entertainment-related expenses between 2001 and 2004, said David Freel, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission.

Some of the items included tickets to Columbus Blue Jackets hockey games, he said. Hoffmannbeck is also accused of allowing an investment firm to pay the $4,000 cost of flying him to a seminar in the Bahamas.

'Such restrictions are in place to ensure that public employees are not making investment decisions based on their personal relationships with those firms,' Freel said. The workers' comp bureau provides benefits to injured workers.

All three face conflict of interest charges. Zigler and Hoffmannbeck also were charged with failure to disclose the expenses. The alleged ethics violations are all first-degree misdemeanors and carry a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday with Hoffmannbeck and Zolkowski. No listing could be found for Zigler.

All three are scheduled to appear Thursday in Franklin County Municipal Court.

A state audit released in March cited mismanagement and a lack of oversight as the keys to scandals at the workers' comp bureau. The report by Auditor Mary Taylor's office also found during the review of operations for 2005 and 2006 that some key financial documents had been destroyed.

The scandals started with rare coin dealer Tom Noe, now imprisoned for stealing from a $50 million rare-coin investment he managed for the bureau.

Former chief financial officer Terrence Gasper pleaded guilty in June to accepting bribes in exchange for doling out agency business, and awaits action as he cooperates with authorities. In January, investment marketer Clarke Blizzard pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to bribe Gasper.

Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat elected Nov. 7, has promised to restructure the agency, including the creation of an independent board to oversee investments.