WARREN — The holder of a $15 million debt is pursuing foreclosure proceedings on the former Copperweld Steel property after its owner, Warren Steel Holdings, reportedly defaulted on a 2014 loan.

Optima Acquisitions LLC, based in Miami, Florida, filed suit June 27 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Judge Sarah Thomas Kovoor has been assigned the case.

The foreclosure targets two parcels in Warren Township (North River Road) and Champion (Mahoning Avenue NW) that cover approximately 365 acres.

In a letter dated May 8, Optima Acquisitions CEO Mordechai Korf demanded repayment of a $15 million loan originated on Aug. 1, 2014. He also asked the court for $16.1 million in interest.

Founded in 2001, Warren Steel Holdings was affiliated with Optima Ventures LLC. Federal investigators say Optima Ventures LLC partly was owned by billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian oligarch.

Banned from entering the United States, Kolomoisky had been accused, along with others, of money laundering tied to Ukraine’s PrivatBank. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth in 2023 at $1 billion.

The mill ended operations in 2016.

Warren Steel Holdings, with addresses in Warren and Miami, avoided a previous foreclosure attempt in early 2022.

The company owed Trumbull County more than $700,000 in property taxes. The city of Warren also was due $200,344 for water usage. A repayment plan was agreed to and the foreclosure was dismissed.

“The end goal is to collect the taxes, so if I bring that property through foreclosure and through sheriff sale, I’m not 100% sure it would have sold at sheriff sale,” Trumbull County Treasurer Sam Lamancusa said at the time.

The county and Warren Steel Holdings have since entered into another repayment agreement, according to the treasurer’s office.

There is a balance of $102,646.88 on the North River Road parcel and $129,342.92 on the Mahoning Avenue NW site.

“They are current on our payment plans,” a treasurer’s office employee said Monday. “We wouldn’t have any legal proceedings (against them).

“They pay 10% of their delinquency every six months, along with their current taxes.”

For the two parcels, Warren Steel Holdings pays the county approximately $96,000 every six months. That amount includes money owed to Warren.

In addition to Warren Steel Holdings, Optima Acquisitions named the treasurer’s office and seven businesses as defendants in the foreclosure. Representing interests with liens or judgments against the steel company are the Ohio Department of Taxation (owed $100,011.27 according to court records); Lincoln Recycling Inc.of Painesville ($200,923.51); Scrap Metal Services LLC ($2,623,790.76); Motion Industries Inc. of Hoover, Alabama ($61,131.03); CSX Transportation Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida ($70,192.91); Songer Steel Services Inc. of Washington, Pa. ($168,768.22); Cortland Capital Market Services ($88,227,011.56); and

Tube City IMS LLC ($7,739,297.15).

In its response to the complaint, the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office asked the court that the county’s liens be protected.

Copperweld’s roots go back to 1915 in Rankin, Pa., according to the Trumbull County Historical Society’s website. After a move in 1927 to Glassport, Pa., the company expanded into Warren in 1939.

The company changed hands in 1975 when French-owned Societe Imetal obtained the company in a court-approved takeover. Copperweld’s Steel Division was spun off in 1987 and became known as CSC, according to the historical society. Japan’s Daido then claimed a majority share of the company in 1989.

Hamlin Holdings of Akron entered the landscape as CSC’s new owner in 1995 before selling to Warren Steel Holdings in 2001.

Now located on the property is Ohio Star Forge, founded in 1988. It is not affiliated with Warren Steel Holdings nor part of the foreclosure.