NEWS

Prosecutor: Investors 'smoked' by former Mason mayor

Kevin Grasha
kgrasha@enquirer.com
Former state Rep. Peter Beck in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in March for the first day of his trial.

Former state Rep. Peter Beck lured investors to a failing startup company through lies and deceptions, prosecutors said Wednesday as closing arguments began in Beck's trial.

"They got duped. They got smoked by Mr. Beck," said Ohio Assistant Attorney General Jesse Kramig.

The bench trial began nine weeks ago, March 23, in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court before Judge John "Skip" West. Closing arguments are expected to conclude Thursday.

West will decide whether Beck, a 62-year-old Mason resident, is guilty of any of the 38 counts he now faces, including racketeering, theft and perjury. West dismissed one count Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Beck, the onetime mayor of Mason, used his stature to convince people to invest in Christopher Technologies, or CTech, a software company that couldn't pay its rent, bills or taxes.

Overall, prosecutors say Beck and others connected to the company defrauded investors out of about $5 million. Beck was the company's chief financial officer, according to testimony.

The case dates back to 2006, three years before Beck, an accountant, was appointed as a state representative. He resigned in November 2014.

Kramig said Beck deceived investors "about the financial health of CTech" and "told them not to expect losses going forward."

Ohio Assistant Attorney General Jesse Kramig speaks during closing arguments Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Beck's attorneys say the prosecution had "drawn inferences based on weak and contrived circumstantial evidence."

"This is not a case about theft," said Ralph Kohnen, one of Beck's attorneys. "It's about sophisticated, licensed financial advisers who took a gamble on a startup company. They missed."

The company, Kohnen added, "had great promise -- but it also had great risk."

Kohnen said Beck is a "scapegoat" for others' misdeeds.

Several people have pleaded guilty in the case, including CTech's president, 57-year-old John Fussner of Mason. Fussner pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges and testified against Beck over about a week.

A man who prosecutors called the "chief rainmaker in (the) criminal enterprise," Tom Lysaght, died in 2010. Kohnen said Beck was being blamed for Lysaght's actions.

Peter Beck's attorney, Ralph Kohnen, speaks during closing arguments.

Lysaght was accused of using investors' money for himself, his wife and her church, the Ark by the River Fellowship Ministries. Lysaght's wife, Janet Combs, 77, pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property.

Among the products CTech wanted to develop was a passenger tracking system for Carnival Cruise Lines. CTech representatives, including Beck, traveled to England in 2008 to sell the umbrella company for the cruise lines on a theoretical product that hadn't yet been developed, prosecutors said.

Beck told investors, Kramig said, that a deal with Carnival was imminent.

"They weren't even close to a deal," he said.