State gets control of ECOT founder’s condo
The state has taken control of ECOT founder William Lager’s Columbus highrise apartment while courts resolve attempts to recover almost $107 million from the now-closed online school, under an agreement Lager reached with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Lager can still use the 12th floor unit in a Downtown condominium that he bought for $300,000 in 2002. But the state has attached it and can sell it if it proves its claims that Lager illegally earned more than $29 million from ECOT.
The state says in court filings that Lager, as an official of ECOT, a public school, violated conflict of interest and other laws by hiring two companies he owns to do work for the school. Lager has denied those claims and is scheduled to be deposed in the case July 29.
Lager’s lawyer, Karl Schneider, did not return a call from The Plain Dealer seeking comment.
But the state has not been able to attach the most valuable properties Lager purchased after starting the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow online charter school in 2000. Those include his $3.7 million Key West, Florida, home and a lakefront home he bought in Senecaville, about 90 miles east of Columbus, for $433,500.
Though the state sought control of the lakefront house, it had to back off: While the Noble County Auditor lists Lager as the owner, Yost spokesman Dominic Binkley said he isn’t.
“Upon further review, we discovered that Lager does not have an interest in that property,” Binkley said. He declined to explain.
Yost is also not pursuing Lager’s Key West home, just blocks from Key West’s central tourist area.
“Ohio Courts do not have jurisdiction to attach property in Florida,” Binkley said. He declined to say if Yost would seek other ways to take that house.
The state is also not seeking control of two Columbus-area homes Lager bought, but which he transferred at no cost to others a few years ago.
Those include a northern Columbus home he bought in 2008 for $276,900, which was first transferred to his daughter, then to new company Carnaby LLC.
The other is 10-room colonial in the suburb of Upper Arlington, which he purchased in 2013 for $995,000. This one was also transferred to a new company, Milan Ventures, at no cost.
Court filings this year update the amount the state wants ECOT officials to repay to $106.6 million. As previously reported, the Ohio Department of Education ordered ECOT to return $60 million in taxes it received in 2015-16, and $19 million in 2016-17, because the school could not show that students spent enough time on their online classes.
The state has since ordered repayment of another $35 million for the 2017-18 school year. ECOT has dropped its appeal of that order, Yost says in court filings.
After subtracting payments ECOT made before it closed and after other adjustments, the school still owes $106.6 million, court filings by Yost say.