UPDATE
In February 2019, the Mount Vernon Grapevine was contacted by Kevin Ra, the Defendant in the Attorney General’s Office lawsuit referenced by this article. Through official court documents, the Mount Vernon Grapevine has delved into this further, and have verified that the case was subsequently dismissed by the Attorney General’s Office with prejudice (meaning it cannot be refiled).
As a result, none of the allegations against Ra or either of the non-profit entities involved were proven or substantiated. The original article, which the Mount Vernon Grapevine printed based upon a press release issued by the Attorney General’s Office, contained a summary of the allegations against Ra which were not proven to be true in a court of law.
According to a press release obtained by the Mount Vernon Grapevine, Ra and his company, Parcel Revenue Corporation, have now filed their own lawsuit against the Ohio Attorney General seeking $1.6 Billion in damages. That case is currently pending in the Ohio Court of Claims.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
(CLEVELAND)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine Thursday announced a lawsuit against a Beachwood man accused of misusing charitable assets.
The lawsuit accuses Kevin Ra, formerly known as Kevin Ramsey, of using his nonprofits – the Housing Court Assistance Program and, previously, the Greater Cleveland Housing Partnership – to benefit himself.
Through the nonprofits, Ra allegedly offers free assistance to homeowners facing violations in Ohio housing courts, but an investigation by the Attorney General’s Charitable Law Section found evidence that Ra used the nonprofits to buy and sell property and failed to use charitable assets for charitable purposes.
The lawsuit lists about $50,000 in questionable expenditures (such as cash withdrawals, car payments, Amazon purchases, and restaurant payments) from the Greater Cleveland Housing Partnership’s bank accounts between 2012 and 2014. It also lists four times the nonprofit bought and then quickly sold property in Cleveland but apparently never received the proceeds.
Filed in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, the lawsuit accuses Ra of converting nonprofit funds for personal benefit, breaching his fiduciary duties, failing to register charitable trusts with the Attorney General’s Office, and failing to cooperate with an investigation, among other alleged violations.
In the lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks a reformation of the charitable trust, injunctive relief to prevent Ra from working for a charity in Ohio, civil penalties, damages, and other relief.
Suspected charitable fraud should be reported to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov or 800-282-0515.