Saturday, May 13, 2000
Agency accuses former minister
Court order might halt business
By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio officials closed in Friday on former Clermont County minister Gerald Lach and half a dozen companies he controls, gaining a court order prohibiting him from selling stock and putting control of his assets with a court-appointed receiver.
Gerald Lach
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A Clermont County judge Friday issued the temporary restraining order after the Ohio Division of Securities charged that Mr. Lach had sold about $2 million of stock unregistered with state officials to hundreds of investors.
The agency also charged that Mr. Lach had promised investors millions of dollars in profits but had failed to disclose material information, including litigation against him and the companies.
“I am very concerned because of the amount of money that has been raised in apparent disregard for Ohio securities laws,” Thomas Geyer, commissioner of the division of securities, said in a prepared statement.
The actions Friday could have the effect of shutting down Mr. Lach's operations. According to an Enquirer investigation, he has raised about $2.3 million since early 1996.
Mr. Lach, 76, also has spent almost $1.7 million operating and selling the companies, according to financial records obtained by the Enquirer. That includes about $805,000 spent on consultants and architects, $97,000 on travel and at least $87,000 on payments to Mr. Lach, his wife and his three children.
For the last three years, Mr. Lach has been pitching investments in those companies to fund a variety of projects, including a high-tech monorail system and a 110-story tower for senior housing.
But none of those projects is close to reality, and Union Township police raided Mr. Lach's house and office April 19. Clermont County prosecutors have said they plan on introducing that evidence to a grand jury.
Mr. Lach's attorney, Lou Sirkin, did not return phone calls seeking comment Friday.
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