The City of Youngstown has filed a lawsuit against former Finance Director David Bozanich, businessman Dominic Marchionda, and several associated companies, alleging misuse of public funds intended for development projects.

The lawsuit, filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, accuses the defendants of misappropriating funds from the city's Water and Wastewater Funds for projects including the Flats at Wick student housing and the Erie Terminal renovation.

The city alleges that Bozanich and Marchionda orchestrated a scheme to divert funds for personal gain. In one instance, it's claimed that a city grant intended for water-related improvements at the Flats at Wick project was instead used to purchase a fire station.

The lawsuit also alleges that Marchionda submitted fraudulent invoices to receive additional grant funds for the Erie Terminal project beyond what was justified by the work completed.

Bozanich and Marchionda have previously faced criminal charges related to this scheme. Bozanich served a year in prison for bribery and tampering with records, while Marchionda received probation for tampering with records.

Bozanich served as Youngstown's Finance Director from 1993 until his resignation in 2017,

The city is seeking to recover the misappropriated funds, totaling more than $800,000, plus interest and court costs. Additionally, the city is demanding that Bozanich forfeit any salary earned during the period of misconduct.

Dominic Marchionda, Erie Terminal Place LLC and US Campus Suites LLC issued the following statement regarding this lawsuit:

"In regard to the curious timing of the city’s lawsuit, we intend to defend our company with the greatest respect to the legal process; a process that has already been exhausted against these entities and myself over a decade ago.  It is our position that the current filing against our companies is redundant and retaliatory. We will provide more context and comments to the filing in the coming days and intend to counter the one-sided nature of the findings, of which we vehemently disagree and have the necessary documentation to disprove such findings."