Ben Suarez trial begins begins today in Federal Court.

North Canton businessman Ben Suarez arrives at Federal Court Wednesday, June 4, 2014. (Gus Chan / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND-- Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel sent a letter to the state treasurer of California that was almost word-for-word a letter given to him by Suarez Corporation Industries.

SCI owner Ben Suarez is accused of illegally funneling about $200,000 into the campaigns of U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci and Mandel, who was running for Senate in 2011. At the time, SCI was facing litigation from 10 district attorneys in California over advertising for a supplement.

A series of emails between SCI's in-house counsel, an attorney in Washington D.C. and former Stark County GOP Chairman Curt Braden show how Mandel ended up sending a letter to California's treasurer. According to the emails, an attorney wrote a letter that would be from Mandel at SCI's request. Suarez even dictated a paragraph that was included, former SCI counsel Michael Puterbaugh said.

Only a handful of minor changes were made before Mandel signed the letter and put it on his office's letterhead. It was then sent to California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer on May 23, 2011, seeking help to end "legalized extortion" involving SCI.

On May 26, 2011, several SCI employees started making maximum contributions to Mandel's campaign.

Renacci sent a letter to Gov. John Kasich on SCI's behalf on March 29, 2011. That was just days before thousands of dollars came into the Renacci campaign from SCI employees.

"I have recently been made aware of a troubling practice in the State of California that is having deleterious effects on constituents of ours, most notably a large employer in Stark County," Renacci wrote.

A letter between two attorneys in SCI's in-house counsel said it was "Not a very helpful letter at all. (Then SCI CFO Michael) Giorgio said Ben asked him to hold back any money for Renacci a couple days ago. I don't know if there was a falling out, but this letter doesn't help."