His fellow republicans are calling for his resignation, but Ohio State Rep. Peter Beck has no intention of resigning. He says that the fraud charges filed against him are unsubstantiated. Rep. Beck has indicated that he is as much a victim in the situation as everyone else.
The charges center around the selling of ownership interests in a company that prosecutors say Rep. Beck and his business partner knew was broke. According to authorities, $200,000 was fraudulently obtained from at least three as yet unidentified people. In 2011, a lawsuit was filed against the same company by the U.S. Department of Labor. The company was accused of being in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by not putting retirement contributions into employees accounts, but instead using the money for the “general operating expenses” of the company.
Rep. Beck insists that he was not involved in any wrongdoing of which the company and its other principals are accused. In a statement released by his criminal counsel, the Ohio State representative says that authorities are targeting him because the two men actually responsible are out of reach. One of the men is dead, and the other is insolvent.
It is unfortunate that the investors lost their money. However, if the authorities are attempting to link Rep. Beck to the fraud because he may have the money to repay the investors, that would be an injustice. Rep. Beck is prepared to defend himself against these charges and believes that the legal process will prove his innocence.
Source: cincinnati.com, A litany of questions preceded fraud charges, Amber Hunt, Sept. 8, 2013
