By James McNair
Enquirer staff writer

George Fiorini Enquirer file

They play bingo at American Legion Post 11 in Newport twice a week. And while the proceeds are hardly casino-like, the group has raised enough money over the years to help defray the cost of college tuition for many Campbell County students.

That was before the legionnaires encountered George Fiorini. From the mid-1990s to 2002, the former insurance agent mesmerized Tristate residents with a steady stream of TV and radio ads and an investment plan guaranteeing 10 percent a year in interest.

Post 11 entrusted its $100,000 scholarship fund to Fiorini. It hasn't seen the money since. Now, its scholarship gifts are a trickle of what they were.

"It would be nice to have a lot more to give, but if we don't got it, we don't got it," said Larry Hart, a Post 11 member and former commander.

Fiorini, 55, of Miami Township in western Hamilton County will go to trial Monday morning in Dayton, Ohio, to face 88 counts of fraud, money laundering and income tax evasion. A final round of plea bargaining Friday went nowhere.

Most of the charges stem from his ill-fated 10 Percent Income Plus Plan. The trial is expected to last up to five weeks. If Fiorini is convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Dozens, perhaps more than a hundred, of Fiorini's clients have been waiting for the judicial system to hold him accountable for the loss of their money.

Many of his customers were older people who put their life savings - some of them six figures - in Fiorini's unregistered promissory notes, one batch of which was issued in the name of IGW (In God We) Trust.

Many were attracted by the late entertainer Bob Braun, who gushed on Fiorini's behalf in his final years.

Yet Fiorini was his own best closer. Often he arrived at prospect's homes in a chauffeur-driven limousine. Some recall him solemnizing the occasion with a prayer.

How much money he took in remains elusive, but court filings suggest it approached $15 million.

Most of it went into a medical waste venture called Sanitec. Some of it went toward a collection of exotic cars and resort homes in Siesta Key, Fla., and Gatlinburg, Tenn. Even when the last of those homes are sold and the proceeds redirected, investors will likely remain the victims of a calamitous loss.

Steve Meyers, an Anderson Township resident seeking the return of $20,000 for the estate of his late mother, tried in vain to liquidate her account. He believes Fiorini kept the money intentionally.

"I think it was a purposeful act on his part," Meyers said. "This was far too well thought out, starting with Bob Braun, the pamphlets, the TV ads and the bus bench ads. He's not a victim. There's too much evidence and too many victims to show that it wasn't an accident."

Trouble with lawyers

Federal prosecutors don't intend for their case to encompass the entirety of an enterprise that sold annuities, promissory notes and, toward the end, viatical settlements. Fiorini's indictment covers $1.4 million worth of IGW Trust notes sold to about 30 investors in 1998 and 1999. Nonetheless, Assistant U.S. Attorney John DiPuccio has a vanload of documents and more than 100 witnesses ready to testify.

"We're going to show the money coming in and what it went for and that what he claims were investments were things he bought for himself," said DiPuccio, a prosecutor for 30 years.

Since retracting an agreement to plead guilty to reduced charges last September, Fiorini has insisted he is innocent of any crimes. His rambling filings with the court, though, have driven his taxpayer-paid lawyers to exasperation.

Fiorini's first lawyer, federal public defender Kelly Johnson, quit in a mutual parting of ways. His current lawyer, criminal defender Hal Arenstein, told Fiorini in a March 8 letter to cease his "bizarre and nonsensical filings."

Arenstein was mum about his defense strategy last week. He would not say if he intends to call Fiorini to testify.

'Using the courts'

Investors, creditors and their lawyers are taking satisfaction in seeing Fiorini go to trial. Since 2000, Fiorini has disobeyed civil court orders, stalled the foreclosure sale of his Wesselman Road house by filing bankruptcy, then stalled bankruptcy proceedings by citing his right not to incriminate himself.

In 2001, he agreed with the state's assertion that he had committed fraud. But when he failed to produce documents needed for an audit of his companies, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman jailed him for a month. The auditor eventually gave up, saying Fiorini hadn't provided all of the records needed for a full accounting.

"He's using the courts masterfully," said Douglas Haman, a Symmes Township lawyer who represents 13 investors. "At some point in time, that's got to run out, and I hope to God it's with the criminal trial. Our clients are starting to come to the realization that they're not going to get their money back, and the only good feeling they're going to have is if George is locked up for a long period of time."

Others wonder if that's a good idea.

"I'd like to see him have to work it off instead of him just being locked up," said Mark Conover, a Blanchester mail carrier who holds $20,000 worth of promissory notes bought through a Fiorini agent. "I haven't received a dime in restitution."

Not that Fiorini hasn't tried to work during the 15 months since his indictment. He has sold coral calcium, a faddish nutritional supplement. He has pitched investments in Wellspring Capital Group, a Connecticut firm shut down as a fraudulent pyramid scheme last September. And he launched a dubious car-buying venture that resulted in nine additional criminal fraud charges last November.

Change of venue

The trial will take place before U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose. Fiorini had argued that news coverage would preclude a fair trial in Cincinnati, and Rose consented to a venue change. To many of Fiorini's former clients, who will have to drive - or be transported - an hour north to testify or sit in as spectators, it was an insult heaped on their financial injury.

"Any number of these people are struggling to make ends meet," DiPuccio said. "There's one guy who took an early retirement and gave his money to George. Now he has to go back to work, but he's too old. Nobody will hire him."

E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com.