Mark Lay was a true success story. It’s still unclear to me if Lay’s problems were really fraud or just a series of bad investment decisions. In any event, it’s a sad story.

Aliquippa resident Mark Lay, whose Pittsburgh investment company handles about $30 million of Beaver County’s pension fund, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday in Cleveland on fraud charges related to his work with the Ohio workers’ compensation system.

Thursday’s indictment was the culmination of a turbulent case that erupted in 2005 when news of the Ohio losses first came to light. In June 2005, MDL was fired by the Allegheny County retirement board because of his Ohio problems and unhappiness over his company’s performance.

At that time, though, Beaver County commissioners said they weren’t concerned about Lay’s problems because the county had solid, safe investments with his firm. The county had $27 million with MDL in 2005.

Controller Rick Towcimak, a retirement board member, said Friday that Lay controlled $30.3 million of the county’s $201.5 million pension fund at the end of April. ...

Spanik and Towcimak said retirement board members would discuss Lay’s indictment at their June 27 meeting.