Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein’s office has decided not to bring criminal charges against State Teachers Retirement System board chair Rudy Fichtenbaum, former member Wade Steen and lobbyist Robin Rayfield after an ethics referral. Klein’s team concluded prosecutors could not prove the men knowingly broke the law when they accepted or solicited donations for a legal defense fund. The decision lands amid a broader civil fight over how Ohio’s teachers’ pension is managed and who controls its investments.
Records obtained by News 5 Cleveland show Klein’s criminal division chief, Melanie Tobias‑Hunter, told the Ohio Ethics Commission in a Jan. 16 letter that evidence indicates the defendants “acted in good-faith reliance on the advice of their counsel,” undercutting…..