Former Ohio coin dealer Tom Noe is now in prison after being convicted Nov. 13 of 29 counts including theft, corrupt activity, money laundering, forgery and tampering with evidence.
Noe, 52, was convicted by a Lucas County jury in Toledo, Ohio, of misusing the more than $50 million given him to invest in rare coins for the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation. Evidence showed he used millions of dollars of the money to pay off personal loans, and buy and upgrade multi-million dollar properties.
He was convicted on 29 of the 40 counts against him, including two theft counts, 18 forgery counts, four money laundering counts, four tampering with records counts, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The last charge, the most serious, carries a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison. In all, Noe faces up to 72 years in prison. While his sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 20, he was taken to prison immediately after the verdicts to start serving a 27-month sentence for a Sept. 12 conviction for violating federal campaign finance law. Noe illegally poured more than $45,000 into the re-election campaign of President Bush.
The Noe scandal is considered a prime reason why Democrats made huge gains in Ohio after the Nov. 7 elections, including winning the governor post.
