BEREA, Ohio - As George Voinovich's former personal accountant and campaign treasurer, Vince Panichi for decades helped Mr. Voinovich fend off accusations of corruption, from Cleveland City Hall to the governor's office.
Now Mr. Panichi and his wife, Laura, face a series of questions about their financial ties to Tom Noe, a former Republican fund-raiser sentenced to 18 years in state prison for stealing from a $50 million rare-coin fund he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
A Blade investigation has found that Mr. Panichi's accounting firm, Ciuni & Panichi, did not disclose that he and his wife had a financial relationship with Noe - as documented in Noe trial evidence by numerous checks between them - when it landed a lucrative contract to audit the Ohio Turnpike Commission. At the time, Noe was the commission's chairman.
In October, 2004, Noe voted to approve a five-year, $384,000 contract for Ciuni & Panichi, the Cleveland-area accounting firm led by Charles Ciuni and
Mr. Panichi.
Turnpike Commission members, staff, and officials with the Ohio Auditor's Office - which oversaw the contracting process - said they were unaware of any business link between the Panichis and Noe.
"Ciuni & Panichi has never disclosed to the auditor of state's office any potential or actual conflict of interest in performing the audit of the Ohio Turnpike Commission," Steve Faulkner, a spokesman for state Auditor Mary Taylor, wrote in response to questions from The Blade.
"All state auditor contracts with [outside] firms require the disclosure of any conflicts of interest or potential impairments to the independence of the [firm]."
The Turnpike Commission's chairman and high-ranking turnpike officials said Ciuni & Panichi did not disclose the financial ties to Noe.
Mr. Panichi co-founded the firm in 1973 and is its senior director.
Vince and Laura Panichi didn't return messages seeking comment, and their attorney, Don Brey, declined to discuss their ties to Noe.
"As long as the investigation is pending, we believe that we would be interfering with it by publicly talking about that kind of stuff," Mr. Brey said.
Rhonda C. Hall, the Ciuni & Panichi partner who signed the firm's proposal to do the annual audit of the Turnpike Commission, declined to comment. She referred questions to managing partner Charles Ciuni, who didn't return phone messages.
Attorney General Marc Dann, who has been invited to join the state and federal task force investigating the operations of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, said the financial relationship between Noe and the Panichis raises potential legal questions.
If there is criminal wrongdoing, Mr. Dann said he would pursue charges.
Records obtained by The Blade show that the multiagency task force investigating the widening scandal at the Bureau of Workers' Compensation has subpoenaed more than 1,000 pages of records pertaining to Mr. Panichi and his accounts with KeyBank.
The subpoenaed documents include access logs for a safe deposit box, as well as checking, investment, and IRA account statements going back as far as 1996.
Other records indicate that the task force has subpoenaed correspondence and calendars from DL II, a Naples, Fla.-based corporation.
Financial records that were part of the evidence in Noe's criminal trial document the extensive business relationship that existed between the Panichis, Noe, and Noe's former business, Vintage Coins & Collectibles:
•On Aug. 16, 2001, Noe's Vintage Coins business wrote a check to Ms. Panichi for $32,000.
•On Dec. 27, 2002, Ms. Panichi wrote a check to Noe's business for $35,000. The memo field of the check stated: "Investment."
•On Jan. 27, 2004, Vintage Coins wrote a check for $4,000 to Mr. Panichi.
•The records also show that the former rare-coin dealer's business wrote quarterly checks of $2,500 to DL II Inc.
Mr. Panichi's wife, Laura Panichi, is listed as the officer and director of DL II, which was incorporated in 1993, according to Florida business records.
Trial exhibits show that Vintage Coins made at least $30,000 in payments to DL II between March, 2002, and December, 2004.
Mr. Brey, the attorney representing the Panichis, confirmed that investigators have spoken with Mr. Panichi about payments that DL II Inc. received from Noe, but Mr. Brey wouldn't say how many times Mr. Panichi was interviewed, which authorities he spoke with, what questions were asked, and what documents were requested.
"What happened, what didn't happen, what's real, what's misunderstanding, will eventually sort itself out," Mr. Brey said.
Whether investigators find there was a problem, Joseph Balog, who succeeded Noe as turnpike chairman, said last week the financial ties should have been disclosed.
"I think it would be up to someone in the firm, and Mr. Noe, to disclose that," Mr. Balog said.
Ciuni & Panichi landed its first contract with the Turnpike Commission in 1992, a year after Mr. Voinovich took office as governor, according to the agency.
From 1999 through 2004, Ciuni & Panichi received $74,286 from the Turnpike Commission to audit construction contracts and also contracts of companies that sell food and beverages at service plazas along the 241-mile toll road.
In June, 2003, former governor Bob Taft appointed Noe, the chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents, to the Turnpike Commission.
At his first meeting, Noe was elected vice chairman of the five-member board, and he was picked to serve on the audit subcommittee at his second meeting.
He became chairman in March, 2004.
In September, 2004, Ciuni & Panichi submitted its proposal to conduct the annual audit of the Turnpike Commission.
Three members of the turnpike staff scored the "requests for proposals" filled out by three firms, and gave Ciuni & Panichi the most points.
At the Oct. 18, 2004, commission meeting, Noe asked how the five-year, $384,000 contract was awarded.
"Essentially, we make a recommendation, and the auditor of state has final say," replied David J. Miller, the Turnpike Commission's director of audit and internal control, according to commission minutes.
The commission then voted unanimously to award the contract to Ciuni & Panichi.
Records obtained by The Blade show that the Cleveland regional office of then-state auditor Betty Montgomery had recommended that another Cleveland firm, Charles E. Harris & Associates, get the work.
The State Auditor's Office gave Charles E. Harris & Associates the highest score by a one-point margin.
A state auditor document dated Oct. 8, 2004, says the contract was awarded to Ciuni & Panichi because of "client preference," a reference to the Turnpike Commission.
State Auditor spokesman Steve Faulkner said last week that Ciuni & Panichi received a lower score because of its cost, not because of competency issues.
A partner in an Akron accounting firm that has competed twice for Turnpike Commission contracts to audit concessionaire and construction contracts - and lost both times to Ciuni & Panichi - said Ciuni & Panichi is known as a "politically connected" firm in the Cleveland area.
"Everyone is fairly aware they are heavily involved in politics," said Dale Ruther, a partner with Bober, Markey, Fedorovich & Co., which formerly employed current state Auditor Mary Taylor.
Associates and executives with Ciuni & Panichi, Charles E. Harris & Associates, and Bober, Markey, Fedorovich & Co., have contributed thousands of dollars to political candidates in Ohio, including candidates for state auditor.
Former state representative Jim Trakas, who was chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party from 1996 to 2005, described Mr. Panichi "as kind of a quiet fellow" who is intensely loyal to Mr. Voinovich.
"He has a nice business with a good reputation," Mr. Trakas said.
Mr. Voinovich's press secretary, Chris Paulitz, said the senator wasn't aware of any financial ties between the Panichis and Noe.
And the questions swirling around Mr. Panichi have not affected his friendship with Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Paulitz said.
"They're close," Mr. Paulitz said.
"They have seen each other recently, casually, in Cleveland."
Contact James Drew at:
jdrew@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
First Published February 11, 2007, 10:11 a.m.
