COLUMBUS, Ohio – The lead investor in an egg-farm empire with a troubled history controlled day-to-day operations without state regulators’ knowledge, hiding behind the farmers with operating permits because he was labeled a “habitual violator” of environmental laws, state agriculture officials said Tuesday

Jack DeCoster, who has operated egg farms in Maine and Iowa, didn’t apply personally for permits to buy the state’s largest egg farm in 2004 because he knew it would be impossible to get them, the Ohio Agriculture Department said in a legal brief filed Monday.

The brief cites four violations of Iowa environmental law against DeCoster that resulted in $170,000 in fines.

DeCoster in 1996 was fined for health and safety violations at an egg farm near Turner, Maine. He later settled the case for $2 million.

The Agriculture Department in September announced it would revoke the permits of Ohio Fresh Eggs, which has had complaints about flies and manure smells from its hen barns.