State lawmaker Pete Beck’s attorneys say the $1.2 million lawsuit filed against their client is going to “cave in like a house of cards” when they get into court.

A number of investors, led by Thomas Walker, filed a civil fraud lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Friday, alleging investors were out more than $1 million. Beck’s attorneys Konrad Kircher and Joe Borchelt said not only has the statute of limitations likely run out on the action, but the allegations are false.

“The facts are just completely wrong,” Kircher said. “There are a number of plaintiffs here who are very sophisticated investors — they are stock brokers, doctors, a developer. Pete Beck didn’t pull the wool over anybody’s eyes in fact he didn’t solicit anybody for any investments. These people all knew what they were getting into and it was a good business at the beginning.”

Beck, who represents the 54th House District and is the former Mason Mayor, is a certified public accountant. The lawsuit alleges he used his accounting acumen to lure investors to put their money into Christopher Technologies, a company that developed alert systems for schools, in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre.

The lawsuit also says Beck was involved with a company owned by Thomas M. Lysaght, who is now deceased — his company and his wife Janet Combs are also defendants — and the Ark by the River Fellowship Ministry, another named defendant. The plaintiff investors claim they were duped into investing in the companies by Beck and others and they have lost their investments, according their attorney J. Thomas Hodges.

“My clients are seeking to be made whole from investments that were gained through illegal activity,” he said. “Be it fraud, a breach of contract, or anything in between.”

Beck’s former accounting firm Donovan Donohoo, Jr. and Associates is also a defendant. He used to be a partner in that firm but Kircher said his partner wanted him out after this issue arose.

“Donohoo, along with Beck, was the CPA firm retained by CT to generate audited financial statements and tax returns for the purpose of showing prospective investors that the financial condition of not only CT, but also TML were sound and in good standing,” the lawsuit reads. “At the time Beck provided such financial information to potential investors, he was aware, or should have been aware, that the financial condition of both entities was very poor.”

Kircher said the allegation that Beck was the chief financial officer of the alert system software company is false. Beck was a hired as a professional contractor, according to Kircher. He said Christopher Technologies had a prospectus drawn up by a reputable law firm and that is what convinced investors. He said Beck had little or no involvement with the other parties in the lawsuit except he wrote some letters for Ark by the River

The lawsuit also alleges $15,000 was transferred out of Lysaght’s investor fund to Beck’s political campaign. Kircher didn’t comment on that allegation but said they are “strongly” considering filing a counter claim for filing a frivolous lawsuit. He said they have actually had a draft of the lawsuit from the plaintiff’s first attorney, but it was never filed in court.

“We got a draft of this complaint almost a year ago, I think it was February, trying to extort money from Pete,” Kircher said. “We refused, we refused to cooperate.”