COLUMBUS, Ohio — The lawsuit seeking to prohibit the Browns from receiving $600 million in unclaimed funds for a new stadium accuses the legislature of corruption in how Jimmy and Dee Haslam won the public money.
The lawsuit, filed by former Ohio attorney general Marc Dann and former state lawmaker Jeff Crossman, notes that the Haslams were among the highest donors to a 2024 campaign that successfully defeated a proposed constitutional amendment to fix gerrymandering in the state, together contributing $100,000.
And in exchange for the generosity of the Browns’ owners, the lawsuit alleges, the legislature created the funding mechanism to transfer $600 million from the Ohio Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund to the Browns for the planned stadium in Brook Park. It was inserted into the state budget passed in late June.
“It’s quite a bargain,” Dann said Tuesday, after an emergency court hearing in which a judge temporarily halted the transfer of the funds for 14 days.
“It was $100,000 for $600 million,” Crossman said, adding that the legislature has been accused of corruption in the past, including with FirstEnergy.
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is in prison for 20 years for improperly accepting $60 million from FirstEnergy Corp., which helped pay for his campaign to become speaker. After he became speaker in 2019, he passed a bill that was to provide FirstEnergy $1 billion for a subsidiary’s nuclear plants on Lake Erie. It’s the biggest corruption case in state history.
The anti-gerrymandering amendment of 2024 was backed by GOP former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor. It promised to fix political mapping that Democrats and some independents believe creates a disproportionate number of Republicans in the legislature and Congress.
The Republicans in the General Assembly opposed the proposed anti-gerrymandering amendment, saying it would have in fact created gerrymandering in favor of the Democrats.
The Haslams sided with the legislators’ point of view.
“It’s good work if you can get it,” Dann said. “And that’s the other great history of the Ohio General Assembly: They’re always for sale for cheap.”
A spokesman for Ohio Senate Republicans, who devised the unclaimed funds mechanism and inserted it into the budget bill, said Wednesday that the lawmakers were reviewing the case and the 14-day temporary order. He didn’t comment on the pay-to-play allegations.
Peter John-Baptiste, chief communications officer for Haslam Sports Group, said the two issues — the couple’s support of political causes and the $600 million grant — are separate.
“It’s sad that we have to dignify these false and defamatory accusations with a response,” he said in an email. “The Haslams, like all private citizens, are allowed to have their own opinions on public policy.
“They can, of course, support the policies they believe in, and that support has absolutely nothing to do with a performance grant that must be paid back with very specific statutory benchmarks for one of the largest economic development projects ever in Northeast Ohio — a project in which the Haslam family is investing over $1.5 billion of their own money.”
Dann said Wednesday that the allegations he made in his Franklin County suit are also made in a federal lawsuit he filed to challenge the unclaimed funds plan under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. A federal judge mostly ruled against Dann and Crossman, both Democrats, on Dec. 9. They’re appealing the decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“After 40 years around Capital Square, it continues to amaze me how cheaply one can buy the favor of the leadership of the Ohio General Assembly and enrich yourself or your business at the expense of the people of the state of Ohio,” he said.
READ MORE: Ohio judge halts $600 million Browns stadium funding: ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’
On Tuesday, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Bill Sperlazza issued the 14-day temporary restraining order, saying that using unclaimed funds for construction could deprive rightful owners of their property.
“I believe the plaintiff could suffer irreparable harm if the Jan. 1 transaction is allowed to occur,” Sperlazza said.
The state treasurer’s office was scheduled to transfer $1.7 billion from Ohio’s unclaimed funds account to a grant program for sports and cultural facilities, including $600 million for the Browns, Jan. 1. The budget law passed last summer set a 10-year deadline for people to claim unclaimed property before it becomes state-owned.
Dann and Crossman argue that the plan violates constitutional protections for property and due process. They represent a client who says retrieving an old paycheck from the fund would be difficult.
“It takes about 120 days to submit a claim,” Crossman said, noting delays because of a surge in claims.
State attorney Aneca Lasley said the fund is constantly being replenished and that people have until 2036 to claim money. She pointed to the federal court ruling against similar arguments.
The state case returns to Franklin County Common Pleas Court in two weeks, when Dann said he will seek a preliminary injunction to block the unclaimed funds transfer as the litigation continues.
