AKRON, Ohio -- Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys yesterday presented conflicting views of Pittsburgh investment manager Mark D. Lay, who is charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with a $216-million loss suffered by Ohio's Bureau of Worker's Compensation.

U.S. Attorney Benita Pearson described Mr. Lay as a "manipulator, a liar" whose high risk investing resulted in the $216- million loss.

Defense attorney Richard M. Kerger called the 44-year-old Aliquippa native a competent hedge-fund manager who is being made the scapegoat for the scandal-plagued state agency.

Mr. Lay was indicted in June on fraud and conspiracy charges. The indictment was amended in September to include charges that Mr. Lay concealed that he had been dismissed from PNC Bank and Mellon Banks in the late 1980s for unauthorized securities trading. U.S. District Court Judge David D. Dowd Jr. hasn't decided whether jurors will hear testimony about his work at the Pittsburgh banks. Mr. Lay has pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Lay also is being sued separately by the state bureau.

In her opening statement, Ms. Pearson said Mr. Lay exceeded leverage limits "again, again and again," sometimes putting more than $100 at risk for every one dollar the agency invested in Mr. Lay's active duration fund. The fund was supposed to limit leverage to 150 percent of the amount invested.

Ms. Pearson, the prosecutor, compared MDL's investing to a 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, saying if the fund's rules allowed Mr. Lay to go 83 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone, he drove at more than 7,000 miles per hour.

"He's a manipulator, a liar, someone simply who could not be trusted with public dollars," Ms. Pearson told the 12-person jury.

Mr. Kerger said the MDL Fund worked exactly the way it was supposed to given the agency's concerns about forecasts of higher interest rates. Rising interest rates would have caused losses in another account MDL was managing for the agency. The active duration fund offset those losses, Mr. Kerger told the jury.

"This case is about shifting blame," he said.

Judge Dowd stopped Mr. Kerger from going deeper into the agency's scandal.

"The Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation is not on trial," he said.

The trial comes against the backdrop of a financial scandal that has reached the governor's mansion in Columbus. More than a dozen persons involved with the embattled state agency have been convicted, including Terry Gaspar, the bureau's former chief financial officer, who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes; aides to Gov. Bob Taft who pleaded guilty to ethics violations and filing false financial statements; and coin dealer Tom Noe, a large contributor to Republican campaigns who is serving 18 years for stealing from a $50 million rare coin fund he managed for the agency.

Among those expected to testify at Mr. Lay's trial are Mr. Gaspar and James McLean, the bureau's former chief investment officer. Mr. Lay also is expected to testify on his own behalf. If Judge Dowd allows testimony about Mr. Lay's work at PNC and Mellon, Bruce Cobb, who worked with Mr. Lay at PNC, and Steven Peras, who was Mr. Lay's supervisor at Mellon Financial, are expected to testify for the prosecution.

Clients already were deserting MDL because of its subpar performance when the scandal broke. The trend has accelerated since then, with the Allegheny County Retirement Board and other clients terminating Mr. Lay. His firm now manages about $790 million, down from $2.8 billion at the end of 2004.

Mr. Lay's trial is expected to continue into next week.