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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > August > 11
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Former Dynus owner denies allegations
Update: Orlando Carter denied any role in making a fake W-2 and other documents used to over-inflate his income by more than $300,000 to get a mortgage on a $1.2 million mansion.
He said he delegated the mortgage process to Dynus employees Damian Ortiz and Julia Light, and hadn’t seen the fake tax records until the trial.
“What was your involvement?” asked defense attorney Wende Cross.
“I had none,” Carter replied.
As to claims by part-owner of Dynus Ross Love that taking this money from the company was “stealing,” Carter said his agreement with Love allowed him occasional disbursements based on his 75 percent ownership of the company.
Carter is fighting an 11-count indictment. In addition to charges of lying on his loan application, Carter is charged with bank fraud for his alleged role in Dynus securing $6.5 million in bank loans in Butler County’s name without county approval.
Original post:
Former Dynus Corp. owner Orlando Carter took the stand in his own defense today, Aug. 11.
Before buying the company at the center of a scandal that cost two banks millions of dollars, unseated a Butler County auditor and left 60 people without jobs, Carter grew up on a North Carolina farm.
They raised corn, cucumbers and tobacco, he said. “Every morning we would have to get up before we went to school and take care of the chores on the farm,” he said.
After earning an MBA from Duke University in 1995, Carter worked his way up through several companies before he bought a fiber-optics company then called Optical Data Comm in 2001. The companies had hundreds of employees at the time and $160 million in sales, he said.
The market soon collapsed, Carter said, and he led the company through a bankruptcy reorganization.
“We came out as a stronger company (with) a lot stronger balance sheet,” he said. He then ran the company for three years before it merged with North American Interconnect.
In 2003, his marriage on the skids from traveling too much, Carter decided to buy the Cincinnati company that would later become Dynus Corp.
He is now talking about how he met Ross Love, and the role Love played in the company.
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West Chester trustee disputes ‘kickback’ was paid
The question assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Barry tried to ask West Chester Twp. Trustee George Lang in federal court today, Aug. 11: “Isn’t it true, Mr. Lang, that Orlando Carter was paying you to grease the skids for him at Butler County?”
The question the judge would allow: “Isn’t it true that Orlando Carter was paying you over $300,000 to make introductions for him at Butler County for the benefit of his company.”
“Yes, among other things I did for that organization, yes,” Lang replied.
Lang was called to the stand by defense attorneys for Carter, former owner of Dynus Corp.
As the company was taking out $6.5 million in loans in Butler County’s name without county approval, Lang said Dynus contracted with him to help secure a fiber optic contract with the county.
The fraudulent loans ultimately caused the company’s collapse in 2005 and felony charges against company executives.
Lang said he introduced Dynus officials to Kay Rogers, then county auditor. Rogers was in charge of the county’s information technology division, he said, so it made sense for her to be involved.
Rogers would later plead guilty to bank fraud for her role in securing the loans.
Dynus paid Lang’s company $360,000 for introducing company and county officials, $100,000 of which went each to company president Jim Smith and then Butler County GOP executive director Scott Owens.
Testimony this morning focused on the payments given to Smith. There were two checks, one for $20,000 paid to Smith’s girlfriend and another for $80,000 that Smith had said he used to build a pool.
In earlier testimony, Smith referred to the payment he received as a “kickback,” because he was a Dynus employee getting paid by a contractor for the company.
But Lang said he was unaware Smith was a Dynus employee when he was working as a consultant for Lang. He even gave Smith tax forms accounting for the payments.
“Did you give Mr. Smith a kickback?” asked defense attorney Martin Pinales.
“No,” replied Lang.
“Was it under the table in any way?” Pinales asked.
“No it was not,” Lang said.
Lang said he would not have given Smith the money if he knew he was working for the county. But he said he did tell Carter about the payments.
Lang’s company later merged with Dynus Financial, where Lang served as president. As a company employee, he used the company’s suite on the 50-yard-line of Paul Brown Stadium and was reimbursed for meals at Jags, where he was part owner.
Lang said he had met Smith when his company, the Lang Agency, was trying to get a employee benefits contract with Reynolds and Reynolds, where Smith worked. When Smith came to him with the Dynus proposal, Lang said, he was excited about it.
“Dynus, I still believe to this day, was sitting on something really big, and something that could change the world,” Lang said.
Lang said the county and company did enter into an economic development agreement, but it fell apart when news surfaced of the fraudulent loan.
Carter is fighting an 11-count indictment, including charges of bank fraud stemming from the loan.
Smith has pleaded guilty fraud, as well as another former company employee.
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