DeWine
NEWARK, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the former organizers of a bingo game intended to benefit the Excel Academy for allegedly illegally paying workers and themselves.
Thomas Jacob and Marlene Jacob of Newark and David Jacob of Frazeysburg allegedly withheld donations and diverted bingo proceeds to bingo workers at the expense of Excel Academy.
"The law requires that all proceeds from bingo games in Ohio must benefit a charitable purpose," DeWine said. "By allegedly taking money to pay themselves and other workers, the defendants took money intended to benefit the students of Excel Academy. This lawsuit will seek to recover those funds for the academy and its students."
It is illegal to pay workers to work a bingo game in the state of Ohio and all bingo proceeds must benefit the organizing organization's charitable purpose. The defendants also allegedly falsified records and filings to conceal the payments from the Academy and state regulators.
Additional allegations in the lawsuit against the defendants include breach of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, conversion, falsification, reformation of a charitable trust, failure to maintain records, negligence, deceptive acts and practices, misrepresentation, nuisance, and filing false and misleading information.
The lawsuit seeks restitution, as well as compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants. In addition, the suit seeks to prohibit the defendants from soliciting on behalf of any charitable organization in Ohio.