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Ohio Man Indicted On Charges of Falsely Selling Shares in Athersys, Inc.

Ronald J. Olear, of Mentor, Ohio, has been indicted on charges of securities fraud and falsification of a tax return, according to a recent article in The News-Herald. The United States Attorney's Office has accused Olear of stealing approximately $339,000 from 30 investors through the false sale of stock in Athersys, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company.

As reported in the article, Olear was hired by Athersys, Inc. as a building coordinator in January of 2003. By February of that year, Olear was misrepresenting himself to family, friends, and acquaintances as an owner and/or controller of 80,000 shares of company stock. According to the indictment, he then knowingly misled various individuals into a fraudulent investment by "selling" them shares of Athersys, Inc.
Olear also stands accused of presenting investors with fraudulent stock certificates that he stole from a company shredder and then altered to reflect his "ownership" in the shares. Additionally, Olear allegedly used investor funds to make payments to earlier investors and misappropriated funds for personal purposes, which included the financing of a $600,000 house.
An initial court date has been set for Jan. 5 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

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