Ohio officials have approved additional accounting aid for thecontinuing investigations into the disappearance of rare coins andthe loss of investment assets of the Ohio Bureau of Workers'Compensation.

A total of $645,000 in additional funds needed for the inquirywas approved by the state Controlling Board this week.

Some of the money will be used by a Chicago firm to continue tocount and verify the value of rare coins at the heart of theongoing investment scandal.

Of the money, $195,000 will be used by Lucas County prosecutorJulia Bates to have Sotheby's auction house count, appraise andtransport coins and other collectibles held by the funds underinvestigation, including the two newly-found collections.

The money will raise to more than $6.5 million the amount thestate has allotted to probe Toledo, Ohio, coin dealer Tom Noe, amajor Republican fund-raiser who has acknowledged that $13 millionof the money he received from the injured workers' fund for coininvestments is missing.

The additional money for an accounting was sought in part byState Auditor Betty Montgomery because three additional collectionsof coins have been found that were part of an investment for thestate's fund that provides employer insurance for injuredworkers.

Meanwhile, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Cain inColumbus, Ohio, allowed Attorney General Jim Petro to tightenrestrictions on Mr. Noe's assets.

Mr. Petro has accused Mr. Noe of stealing at least $4million.

Yesterday, Judge Cain at the request of Mr. Petro agreed toreduce the value of any assets Mr. Noe can sell without permissionto $5,000 from $15,000.

The action by Judge Cain modifies his May 27 order freezing allpersonal and business assets of Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette,so that the state can probe if any of those assets belong to theworkers' compensation bureau.

In his ruling, Judge Cain said that Mr. Petro had presentedenough evidence to show Mr. Noe may have converted state funds topersonal use. The judge also ruled that the May order applied toBernadette Noe because of indications she may have billed herhusband's coin funds for legal work.

While Mrs. Noe's bills don't show conclusively that sheconverted state money for her own use, "they do bring forth thespecter of fraud," the judge said.

Mr. Petro presented evidence in July alleging that he hadevidence that Mr. Noe began stealing money from the coin funds onMarch 31, 1998, the same day he received the first of twoinstallments of $25 million from the state.

"The evidence as it stands now tends to show that Mr. Noeconverted BWC monies and/or committed fraud," Judge Cain wrote thisweek in a footnote to his order. "This court is sure that throughthe discovery process more facts will be revealed that will havethe tendency to either prove or disprove [the state's]allegations."

Monday's ruling gives Mr. Petro a five-day deadline to proveassets over $5,000 were originally purchased with state moneybefore Mr. Noe is allowed to sell them off.

Besides the inquiry into Mr. Noe's activity, the state is suinga fund manager for $215 million in additional losses suffered bythe $15.5 billion fund. That lawsuit alleged that MDLA ActiveDuration Fund Ltd., among other miscues, lied about exceedinglimits on leveraging of fund monies.

In the wake of the fund scandal the state insurance departmentsaid it has reorganized to create a fraud and enforcementdivision.

Ohio Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin announced that shehas created a fraud and enforcement division and a marketregulation and licensing division out of the department's Office ofInvestigative and Licensing Services Division.

The fraud and enforcement unit will be headed by Robert Smith,who currently directs the department's investigation intobid-rigging and other sales-related insurance activities inOhio.

Melissa Hull, who previously served as interim head of theOffice of Investigative and Licensing Services, was named assistantdirector of the new Market Regulation and Licensing Division. Thatunit will probe company wrongdoing in the marketplace and overseeagent and agency licensing.