In addition, Centerville businesssman John H. Culp sued in 2001 to allege that MCSi, which Peppel then headed as president, chairman and chief executive officer, had reneged on a $500,000 payment Culp said he was due under a severance agreement resulting from Culp’s 2001 sale of his suburban Dayton company Audio-Visual Systems Inc. to MCSi in 1999.
That lawsuit resulted in an court-of-settlement, which Culp declined to discuss.
Peppel is due back in Cincinnati federal court on Wednesday, Aug. 11, to either enter pleas to federal charges resulting from MCSi’s collapse, or watch as jury selection begins for his trial. He has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court to all 32 charges accusing him of leading a stock-inflating, accounting fraud that preceded MCSi’s failure, which wiped out the jobs of 1,300 people at the Kettering-based audiovisual sales and services company and left stockholders with worthless shares.
Peppel has declined to talk with a reporter, referring questions to his lawyer in the MCSi prosecution, former federal prosecutor Ralph Kohnen. Kohnen said Friday that he would not discuss the MCSi matter outside of court, and could not comment on Peppel’s other court cases.
According to Montgomery County court records, the other cases against Peppel have included:
• Two tax liens filed against Peppel in 2009 by the Ohio Department of Taxation, for $33,970.96 and $603.17.
• A 2008 judgment that he owed GE Money Bank $22,264.89, plus interest, for credit-card debt, and a similar 2009 judgment for $34,609.92, plus interest, for credit-card debt owed to Capital One Bank.
• A claim by former wife Natalie Peppel that Michael Peppel had fallen behind in child-support payments.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also has a pending civil complaint against Michael Peppel and two former alleged co-participants in what the government described as a three-year accounting fraud at MCSi. The SEC complaint is similar to the criminal charges against Peppel and is on hold until after his prosecution is over, government prosecutors have said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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