Attorney General Mike DeWine's office is suing to recover almost $2.6 million found to be illegally transferred from the now-defunct Lion of Judah Academy to people and businesses associated with running the Cleveland charter school.

The lawsuit, filed Monday against 19 individuals and businesses affiliated with the East Side charter school, also seeks more than $6.8 million in damages under the state's organized crime law.

Academy officials diverted nearly a third of the school's resources to other companies they controlled and also received bonuses and other financial perks, according to the lawsuit. Lion of Judah took in nearly $8.2 million in public funds between 2007 and 2013, when the academy was shut down, the lawsuit stated.

Meanwhile, the school itself continually languished in academic emergency - the institutional equivalent of an "F" - and legitimate debts were ignored, according to DeWine's lawsuit.

(Read more at Dispatch.com)