Ex-Ohio teachers pension board chairman seeks donations for legal appeal
- STRS Ohio Watchdogs
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Former STRS chairman Rudy Fichtenbaum is seeking $105,000 in donations for his legal appeal after being banned from the board
By Laura Bischoff March 9, 2026
The former chairman of the Ohio teachers' pension board is asking for $105,000 indonations through GoFundMe to finance his legal appeal.
In February, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Held Phipps ruled that Rudy Fichtenbaum should be removed and banned from the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio board. She also held that former board member Wade Steen should be banned from the board in the future.
Phipps found that the two men violated their fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the pension fund.
Fichtenbaum and Steen are asking the 10th District Court of Appeals to overturn that ruling.
The STRS Watchdogs established a GoFundMe to help Fichtenbaum, a retired Wright State University economics professor. It has raised $34,300 as of March 9.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued Fichtenbaum and Steen, arguing that they acted as agents of QED, a startup company that wanted to do business with STRS. The attorney general also represents STRS and its board members. Yost's office offered to appoint outside counsel to represent Fichtenbaum and Steen and foot the bill. The two men refused and hired their own attorneys.
The Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, a nonprofit that lobbies STRS over benefits and policies, had been paying Fichtenbaum and Steen's legal fees. Between the Yost case and Steen's fight to get back on the STRS board after Gov. Mike DeWine removed him, ORTA shelled out more than $225,000.
In January, the Ohio Ethics Commission came down firmly against public officials having their legal expenses paid by outsiders who do business with those officials.
STRS Ohio, which is one of five statewide public pension funds, oversees more than $100 billion invested on behalf of 500,000 teachers and retirees. It has seen historic turbulence in recent years, marked by a departure of top staff, a series of legal disputes and the loss of key consultants.
The controversies led state lawmakers to move to change control of the board. That board structure is now the subject of another lawsuit and pending legislation to unravel the change.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff
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Read this article online at https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/state/2026/03/09/ex-strs-ohio-chairman-asks-for-legal-appeal-funds/89067103007
