How Ohio deputy treasurer pulled off biggest bribery scheme in history

Former Ohio Deputy Treasurer Amer Ahmad was able to pull off the biggest bribery and kickback scheme in state history because his authority went unchecked and office employees lacked the financial expertise to see the signs of the crime, according to a 60-page independent report that dissects what went wrong.

After Ahmad and his co-conspirators were indicted in August 2013 on corruption charges, current Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel hired BakerHostetler to conduct an independent review, identify weaknesses that could open the door to insider abuse and recommend controls to mitigate future risk.

According to federal investigations, Ahmad engineered two schemes in the state treasurer’s office in 2009 and 2010:

— Re-write the investment strategy to churn up commissions and steer the work to Hampton Capital Management, which was run by his high school buddy Doug Hampton, and then take kickbacks from Hampton routed through two other co-conspirators.

— Conduct a pay-to-play operation that funneled bribe money to himself and co-conspirator M. Noure Alo and illegal political campaign donations to Boyce in exchange for steering a contract to handle billions of dollars in public pension money to Boston-based State Street Bank & Trust.

Go in-depth with this story: Report says former state deputy treasurer saw himself as free from oversight

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