The Nevada and Indiana attorneys general have filed joint lawsuits against a Nevada philanthropy, alleging the foundation's directors misappropriated assets and neglected the charity's purposes.

The lawsuits, which were filed Wednesday, followed several months of investigation into activities of the Schwab Foundation's directors. The inquiries resulted from an August report in the Journal Gazette, a newspaper in Fort Wayne, Ind., examining the propriety of the foundation's purchase of a luxury golf-course home at Lake Las Vegas and the foundation president's possible personal use of the home.

Childless widower Olin Schwab established his philanthropy in Indiana with about $4 million in 1989 to fund career development among schoolchildren. Schwab died in 1991; according to the Nevada attorney general's lawsuit, foundation President Richard Blaich ordered in June 2002 that most of the charity's assets be transferred out of Indiana. In 2003, the foundation's directors moved the charity's corporate headquarters to Nevada. Blaich continued to live in Fort Wayne, where he practiced law.

On its tax return for fiscal 2004, the foundation listed $7.2 million in assets. Among those assets: about $1.5 million in Nevada real estate.

In July 2003, Blaich signed the deed to a 3,917-square-foot, four-bedroom home with three fireplaces and a pool in the Sorrento subdivision of Lake Las Vegas. The sale price on the house at 41 Avenida Sorrento was listed on the deed at nearly $1.5 million. Records at the Clark County Assessor's office show the buyer was Asset Funds, a Delaware corporation that the Schwab Foundation owns.

After the home purchase, Blaich presented himself as a Sorrento resident in two Review-Journal stories, which raised questions about whether the Schwab Foundation's assets were going to the personal use of a director. When a reporter from the Journal Gazette asked Blaich about his contention that he was a Lake Las Vegas resident, Blaich said he lied to the Review-Journal about his status as a homeowner in exchange for air-conditioning repairs by the home's builder, Centex Destination Properties.

In Wednesday's filing, the Nevada attorney general asserted that Blaich does indeed reside at the Lake Las Vegas home. The lawsuit alleges that the home's purchase had "no apparent motive" related to the foundation's stated purpose of supporting programs that counsel, test and guide children in their career choices.

The lawsuit claims that no rent has been collected on the home. In addition, Blaich has mortgages on two other homes -- in Roanoke, Ind., and Ontario, Canada, -- while the Lake Las Vegas home was bought with cash. The lawsuit also alleges that the foundation's administrative and travel expenses increased from 2002 to 2004, even though directors eliminated the philanthropy's paid staff. The Nevada attorney general's office will use the spending trends to bolster allegations of financial misappropriation, said Nicole Moon, a spokeswoman with the agency.

Blaich did not return calls on Friday to his Lake Las Vegas phone number seeking comment. John Dortch, a foundation director listed in the lawsuit, did not return a call to his Indiana home. The Review-Journal was unable to reach other directors in the lawsuit for comment on Friday.

Nevada Attorney General George Chanos filed the lawsuit on behalf of Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter, and deputies in the Nevada office will act as local counsel if there's a trial, Moon said.

The Nevada lawsuit, filed in Clark County District Court, asks for removal of the foundation's officers and directors, dissolution of Schwab's Nevada entity and civil damages in excess of $10,000.

The Indiana lawsuit, filed in Allen Superior Court in Marion County, Ind., seeks to undo the asset transfer from Schwab's Indiana corporation to its Nevada base, and to return those assets to a reinstated and reformed Schwab Foundation in Indiana.