Shareholders of a tiny Ohio bank have sued its founders, seeking to  recover their initial $4.5 million investment. 
Towne Bancorp, Perrysburg, Ohio, began selling shares to the public in  August 1992 and planned to close the public offering by Dec. 31, 1992.   Unable to raise the needed funds by that date, the company applied for   several extensions from the Securities and Exchange Commission and opened   its subsidiary bank in October 1996.       
  
The class action, filed in the Western Division of U.S. District Court  in Northern Ohio, comprises more than 700 shareholders who bought stock in   the company from August 1992 through June 1998.   
The suit alleges that Towne Bancorp's officers violated securities laws  by not updating shareholders on the status of the public offering and the   company's overall financial health. The alleged violations entitle Towne   Bancorp shareholders to refunds, the suit claims.     
  
"There are certainly rules you have to follow when you are raising  money" in a public offering, said Charles D. Niehaus, a Toledo attorney   representing the plaintiffs, "and they didn't play by those rules."   
The defendants have not yet responded to the charges. An attorney for  the seven defendants, including former president and chief executive   officer Jerome C. Bechstein, did not return telephone calls seeking   comment.     
Towne, which had $20 million of assets, was sold in June to Exchange  Bancshares, Luckey, Ohio, for $2 million.