AG Moves to Freeze Assets of Schwab Foundation
Well, I am officially back in Indiana. I actually got back a couple of days ago, but I have been digging out of a pile of paperwork since then.
Back in August, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ran this story about the Olin B. and Desta Schwab Foundation, and I posted a piece on it noting:
The foundation had its office in Fort Wayne. It had a board of directors, staff, ran programs with guidance counselors and gave grants to further its charitable purpose. But since Schwab’s death in 1991, its board had shrunk, its office was moved to the office of a local attorney, Richard Blaich, who Schwab put on the board of directors, and who drew up the governing documents. The board has been trimmed down. The staff has been fired. The foundation itself, which started out as an Indiana non-profit, is now a Nevada corporation. And most troubling, the foundation purchased a 1.5 million dollar luxury home in Nevada, and is spending $100K per year to maintain this residence, which is being used by Blaich and his family.
Now comes on the scene the Attorney General who has filed an action in Allen Superior Court seeking to freeze the assets of the foundation and return them to Indiana:
“We believe that the merger was an illegal attempt to evade government oversight in Indiana,” Attorney General Steve Carter told The Journal Gazette.
The suit seeks to have the foundation’s assets returned to Indiana and to remove the foundation’s board members. Additional legal action was expected to be filed in Nevada.
Link.
