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Rare coin industry signals 'welcome back' to Tom Noe

Rare coin industry signals 'welcome back' to Tom Noe

COLUMBUS — Letters to Gov. Mike DeWine urging him to grant clemency to Coingate central figure Tom Noe came with something that could help in any plan for the former Toledo area coin dealer to pay back the $12.7 million in taxpayer funding he still owes — job offers.

“As an industry leader, I ask you to enable Tom to return to our community where he would be warmly welcomed and in fact has offers of employment from major companies including my own 86-year-old firm, Kagin's, Inc.,” wrote Donald H. Kagin, a California coin dealer and former vice president of the American Numismatic Association. He wrote to the governor twice last year on Noe's behalf.

Numismatics is the study of rare currencies and coins.

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“This action would result in a win-win-win outcome since Tom would be able to make financial restitution while contributing to the corporate world and our industry in general,” he wrote in November.

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On April 17, Mr. DeWine, a Republican, granted clemency to Noe, a former Lucas County Republican Party chairman. Noe walked out of prison more than six years early as part of a broader effort to reduce the population of Ohio prisons infected with coronavirus.

In the process the governor bucked the Ohio Parole Board, which had just voted for the fourth time — this time unanimously — that Noe not be released.

Noe, 65, had served nearly 12 years of an 18-year state sentence for stealing nearly $13 million from two rare coin investment funds totaling $50 million that he arranged and managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, the state insurance fund for injured workers.

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He had previously served nearly two years in federal prison for illegal funneling campaign contributions through conduits to the 2004 re-election campaign of then President George W. Bush.

On April 21, he walked out of Marion Correctional Institution, among the state prisons hardest hit by coronavirus infections.

Noe has declined multiple requests for an interview.

Mr. Kagin told The Blade he has been in contact with Noe to talk about some ideas of what he might do. It would likely not involve having to relocate to California.

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“In times like these, we would probably be thinking of remote working, and that's great,” he said. “That's what I had in mind before the pandemic.”

He said he doesn't know exactly what Noe might do and how much time he would have to devote.

“We're still in the exploring stage of what would be the best fit,” he said. “It would be a win-win situation, including for our clients.”

He said he hasn't thought about whether there might be trust concerns from clients given Noe's past.

“I'm excited at the prospect of having him work with us,” he said.

In terms of restitution, the state may be able to claim more than $2,000 in unclaimed funds discovered by The Blade that were turned over to the Department of Commerce's Division of Unclaimed Funds in Tom Noe's name.

Of that, $1,700 was turned over in 2018 by Wiley Rein LLP, a Washington-based law firm. It listed Noe's former Maumee coin-dealing business as an address.

The rest came from PNC Bank in 2011 and 2019. Inactive bank accounts, uncashed refunds, and other unclaimed dollars are turned over to the state for safe-keeping until they are claimed by their rightful owners.

“We will definitely look into this.” Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said, noting her office was unaware of this money.

There is no statute mandating that unclaimed funds go to pay restitution or debt.

“However, if our department receives a court order to recover funds for restitution, we would then comply with that and pay the court that money that they are owned,” department spokesman Jennifer Jarrell said.

Mr. DeWine received about 25 letters related to Noe during 2019 — the governor’s first year in office, according to documents released in response to a public records request from The Blade.

All of the writers urged the governor to release Noe. The Blade has also requested related correspondence for this year.

Steve Ivey, chairman of Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, was among the letter writers to Mr. DeWine and his predecessor, Gov. John Kasich, to urge the release of his friend of nearly 40 years. He also testified on Noe's behalf at his 2018 clemency hearing.

He told The Blade that Heritage's interest in hiring Noe is sincere but has not gone beyond that.

“We have every intention of talking with Tom when this coronavirus mess is over,” Mr. Ivey said.

Heritage Auctions claims to be the largest coin-dealing business in the world with more than 500 employees and 11 offices.

“If and when Tom is released from prison, I would not hesitate to do business with him, or possibly even hire him if the right position opened up,” co-owner Jim Halperin wrote separately. He hired Noe in 1973 when both started out in the business.

“Most coin dealers I know feel the same way about Tom that I do despite his conviction in a court of law, and by the press,” he wrote.

When told of the job offers, Catherine Turcer, executive director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Ohio, laughed.

“I'm a bit surprised considering one of the activities he was involved with in coin dealing was inflating the value of a coin,” she said. “I am actually surprised they consider him trustworthy. Certainly, we know he essentially ripped off taxpayers, but he certainly didn't do good things for the reputation of coin dealers everywhere...

“I am not a coin dealer,” Ms. Turcer said. “If coin dealers feel comfortable hiring him, they should do so. They're right about restitution to the state. One of the things that makes Tom Noe different than others is that he had advocates to plead his case. Many people are still incarcerated and in danger who did not have that.”

Mr. DeWine cited the $12.7 million in outstanding restitution and court costs as one of the reasons he chose to grant clemency. His order contained conditions, which Noe agreed to, that require him to enter into a “good faith repayment” plan.

Every six months he must go through what Mr. DeWine characterized as a "debtor's exam." He is barred from having any business relationship with a public body, so there could be no more coin investments like those with the BWC.

Noe will remain under supervision of the Ohio Parole Authority through Oct. 22, 2031, five years longer than the time left on his prison sentence.

He must get written permission from the authority if he plans to leave the state and, should he choose to relocate, permission from the new state as well. During his last clemency hearing in 2018, his ex-wife, attorney Bernadette Restivo, presented the parole board with a plan for him to move back with her to Florida where he could work and begin making restitution.

Aside from the standard conditions for supervision and others outlined in Mr. DeWine's clemency paperwork, any additional special conditions by the authority are not public record, prison spokesman JoEllen Smith said.

When the possibility of returning to coin dealing was raised during his 2018 clemency hearing, a parole board member questioned how a convicted felon could expect to be bonded in a business that depends on trust.

That isn't an issue for Donald P. Miller, president of Roppe Holding Company, which is headquartered in Fostoria but also has offices and manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Florida with 750 employees.

“Over the years, Tom Noe has helped me invest in rare coins,” he wrote “All of these investments have showed dramatic increase in value. When Tom is released from prison, I will be one of his first customers.”

As a general rule, someone dealing in investment coins would not have to be bonded unless perhaps when dealing with high-dollar transactions, said Jimmy Hayes, executive director of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets. The Georgia-headquartered council is a national trade association for dealers in rare coins, currency, and precious metals. It bills itself as the “industry watchdog.”

Mr. Hayes said coin dealers do not need bonding “any more than a diamond merchant would have to be bonded.”

Although familiar with Noe, he was not among those who wrote to the governor and was unaware of Noe's release. He compared Noe's crime to a bank teller who lifts money from the cash drawer for what he thought was a sure bet on a stock with the full intention of putting the money back later.

“He didn't realize in his world that, no, just putting it back doesn't mean you can take it to start with,” Mr. Hayes said. “But what would be respected would be his knowledge of numismatics. That would have value to a company.”

First Published June 27, 2020, 8:00 p.m.

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Tom Noe leaves a courtroom in the Lucas County Courthouse after sentencing on pattern of corrupt activity, money laundering and forgery in November 2006.  (The Blade/Dave Zapotosky)  Buy Image
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