JOINT PRESS RELEASE:

INSPECTOR GENERAL'S TASKFORCE

For more information, contact:
Ohio Ethics Commission
(614) 466-7090
or
Columbus City Attorney's Office
(614) 645-7483

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ETHICS VIOLATION FILED AGAINST FORMER BWC CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER JAMES MCLEAN

On Tuesday, September 4, 2007, Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr.'s Office and Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien's Office announced the filing of one charge upon a complaint signed and referred by the Ohio Ethics Commission and the Ohio Inspector General's Office, alleging a violation of the state's ethics laws against former Bureau of Workers' Compensation Chief Investment Officer James McLean. The charge was filed in the Franklin County Municipal Court under case number 07 CRB 22258.

The Ethics Commission and Inspector General are part of an ongoing investigative task force that includes city, county, and federal prosecutors, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the FBI, the Investigative unit of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and the Division of Securities in the Department of Commerce, investigating issues related to OBWC investments and Tom Noe.

The charge alleges that McLean knowingly filed a false annual financial disclosure statement with the Ohio Ethics Commission for calendar year 2004 by failing to disclose Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. as a source of gifts and/or meals provided to him for that year. This violation is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum penalty of up to a $1,000.00 fine and/or six months in jail.

McLean is scheduled for arraignment on Friday, September 21, 2007, at the Franklin County Courthouse, 375 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio, before Judge Anne Taylor in Courtroom 4C at 11:00 a.m. The telephone number for information at the Municipal Court Criminal Division is 645-8186.

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