CLEVELAND, Ohio – Federal prosecutors asked a judge to order eleven reluctant witnesses to testify -- under protection of immunity -- at the trial of North Canton businessman Ben Suarez scheduled to begin Monday.

The 11 witnesses subpoenaed by prosecutors are all employees or spouses of employees of Suarez Corporation Industries, a multi-million dollar direct-marketing firm and one of Stark County's biggest employers.

All of the witnesses hired lawyers who informed the U.S. Attorney's office that their clients intended to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Suarez, 72, is charged with orchestrating a scheme to secretly funnel more than $200,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci in 2011 and 2012. Both candidates later returned the money and are not charged with any crimes.

The scheme involved enlisting nearly two-dozen company employees and their spouses as "straw donors" on behalf of Suarez. The donors each wrote $5,000 campaign contribution checks to Mandel and Renacci with the expectation that they would be reimbursed by Suarez's company, according to Michael Giorgio, SCI's former chief financial officer who has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify as a provision of his plea bargain.

Renacci and Mandel have been subpoenaed by defense attorneys and may be called to testify or to provide documents for Suarez.

The witnesses declining to testify are: Douglas Heck, operations director at SCI; Michael Blubaugh, a copywriter at SCI; Antonio Fernandez, who worked as an intern at SCI in 2011 and 2012; Timothy Ditty, an executive director at SCI; Michelle Lynn Suarez-Ditty; Sharon Suarez-Cook, a marketing employee at SCI; Eugene C. Cook, Jr., an executive at SCI; Michael Lawrence, chief executive officer of an SCI subsidiary; Mark Collins, creative director at SCI; Jill Collins; and Sherri Litten, a copywriter at SCI.

In response to the Fifth Amendment claims, prosecutors filed 11 separate motions Sunday asking U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Ann Gaughan to compel each of the witnesses to testify with the provision that none of their information could be used against them in a criminal case, unless they committed perjury.

Defense attorneys Mark Schamel and Ian Friedman declined to comment on the motions when reached Sunday.

"With the trial starting tomorrow (Monday), we're going to let everything that needs to be said happen in the courtroom," Friedman said.

If convicted, Suarez faces a sentence of 10 to 12-1/2 years in prison, plus a nearly $1 million fine. His company could be fined from $10 million to $20 million, if convicted.

The trial is expected to last from three to four weeks. Jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning, and opening statements from the lawyers could begin as soon as this afternoon.

Giorgio, 62, of Cuyahoga Falls, faces a prison sentence of 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 years in prison, according to the provisions of his plea bargain.