Ex-Butler County auditor, convicted for role in scandal, asks judge to continue lawsuit against bank

A former Butler County auditor who is suing PNC Bank to force stoppage of $4 million in restitution payments claims in a new filing that a federal judge should ignore the bank’s motion to dismiss because attorneys did not address two primary issues raised in her initial complaint.

Kay Rogers, who is representing herself, filed a nine-count civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati against the bank in November 2018, saying the bank, among other things, committed fraud, civil conspiracy and invasion of privacy. She’s requesting the court grant an emergency temporary restraining order from continuing restitution payments on $4 million.

One of those issues not addressed by the bank in court filings, she said in her motion filed recently, was that a $4 million loan at the heart of the Dynus scandal “does not exist.”

Rogers was sentenced to two years in prison in 2011 after pleading guilty in 2007 to conspiracy to commit bank and mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. Rogers, a single mother of six, said she took a plea deal “against her inner will” in order to “protect her family from further embarrassment and public humiliation.”

Rogers claims in her lawsuit to be the only person ordered to repay the loan even though others were involved. This loan was taken to allow Dynus to operate Butler County’s fiber-optics system, which was built to spur economic development within the county.

RELATED: Former auditor Kay Rogers headed to prison for role in scandal (July 2011)

“Rogers expected PNC’s response, at a minimum, would acknowledge and reconcile the disparity between the often-repeated reference to ‘the loan’ and the 2017 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finding,” according o Rogers’ response filed on March 29.

In her filing, Rogers said the OCC “confirmed there never was a $4 million loan to substantiate a loss to warrant restitution.”

RELATED: Federal magistrate dismisses $500 million Dynus lawsuit involving several Butler County officials (July 2018)

RELATED: Judge sentences Dynus Corp. owner to 15 years, says he’s ‘fundamentally dishonest’ (June 2010)

Rogers said in her lawsuit filed in November 2018 that the bank’s executives, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, have told “a litter of lies” regarding the existence of the loan she’s been ordered to repay.

Rogers has previously said the only document she signed — presented to her by a former Dynus executive — was simply an affirmation the county was good for the money. Only the county commissioners can authorize expenditures, and that executive indicated he intended to obtain their signatures.

Commissioners never signed such a document.

Karen Giffen, attorney for the bank, said in her motion to dismiss filed in February that Rogers' complaint lacks legal standing and several counts are beyond the statute of limitations. She also said the allegations "are virtually identical" to five lawsuits filed by former Dynus owner Orlando Carter, who was convicted in 2009 for multiple counts of fraud, among other charges, and is serving a 15-year prison term. Carter has maintained his innocence.

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