CLEVELAND, Ohio — Benjamin Suarez, the owner of Suarez Corp., a North Canton direct-marketing firm, denied allegations Friday that he funneled illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci and Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel last year amid election battles.

Suarez pleaded not guilty to charges before U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan in Cleveland. In a court filing, an attorney for Suarez, 72, of Canton, had sought to allow the businessman to avoid the hearing, citing business commitments. But Gaughan ordered that he attend the hearing.

A federal grand jury accused Suarez of conspiring to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Renacci and Mandel. A superseding indictment, filed last month, alleged Suarez, his company and Michael Giorgio, the chief financial officer of the business, were involved in the scheme. Giorgio and the company also entered pleas of not guilty Friday.



Benjamin Suarez

Gaughan has set a trial date of June 2. Suarez declined to comment as he left the courtroom.

Renacci, a Wadsworth Republican, was running against Democrat U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton of Copley Township last year when he received $100,000 from Suarez and about 21 of his employees and their spouses. Mandel, a Republican, was challenging U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown when he received $105,000 from Suarez and others at his company, Suarez Corp. Industries.

Both candidates returned the questionable campaign cash after the donations became public in stories published in the Toledo Blade and The New Republic.

Renacci won his election over Sutton. Mandel lost to Brown.

The federal indictment accuses Suarez with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government; conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws; violation of campaign finance laws contributions by a corporation; making false statements, obstruction of an official investigation; witness tampering; and obstruction of justice. The indictment claims Suarez and the company illegally reimbursed employees for donations they made to Renacci and Mandel.

The charges said Giorgio, 62, of Cuyahoga Falls, assisted Suarez in writing large campaign checks in the names of employees and their wives in an effort to disguise the true source of the illegal contributions.

Suarez and Giorgio are also accused of conspiring to obstruct justice from March 2011 to the present by creating phony documents and failing to turn over records and evidence subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.

Plain Dealer reporter James F. McCarty contributed to this story.