Michael I. Monus

Michael I. "Mickey" Monus (born 1947 Phar-Mor was a deep-discount drug and grocery retail chain that established a strong national presence before declaring bankruptcy in the early 1990s. Accused of perpetrating an embezzlement scheme behind one of the largest corporate frauds in US history, Monus was fired from the company and faced criminal charges. He would be convicted of 109 fraud related charges and serve 10 years of a 19½ year prison sentence. He was born in Youngstown, Ohio, which is where Phar-Mor was headquartered.

Early years Monus was born into a prominent family on the north side of Youngstown, Ohio. was a prominent businessman and the estranged younger brother of Mike Monus and Al B. Monus –?). Mickey's mother, Frances Tamarkin Monus, In addition, Monus and another Youngstown businessman, John Antonucci, were the original majority owners of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies; they'd even secured the financing for what would become Coors Field.

Dissolution In July 1992, board members of Phar-Mor alleged that financial books stored at the corporate headquarters showed that the company had inflated its profits by huge margins. Unsecured claims against Monus totaled $4,104,121, while secured claims were calculated at $15,257,545.

The subsequent collapse of the discount chain not only marked the end of Monus' tenure as a leading entrepreneur; it disillusioned residents of his hometown, who were still coping with the loss of the community's steel-manufacturing sector.

On May 25, 1995, Monus was found guilty on all 109 fraud related charges he faced in the government's second attempt to try him; He was later charged with jury tampering in the first trial, but was acquitted.

Youngstown State University Monus was also a major benefactor to Youngstown State University, serving as chairman of its board of trustees. It emerged that Ray Isaac, the quarterback for the 1991 Youngstown State Penguins football team (which won the NCAA Division I-AA National Championship that year), had received substantial benefits from Monus over his college career, including $10,000 in cash, and the use of several cars. The NCAA made an inquiry after being tipped off to Monus' actions, but dropped it after a cursory internal investigation by the university. The true scope of the violations was only revealed in 1998, when Isaac admitted tampering with a juror in Monus' fraud trial. The university admitted to a lack of institutional control, and docked itself some scholarships; however, it was allowed to keep the 1991 national championship, because the statute of limitations had expired.