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Scott Lukouski and Michael Redman share a passion for the water and a need for speed. So when the two friends craved dueling speedboats, they went to National Marine, the Youngstown company whose website declares it "the nation's largest performance boat dealer," boasting 18 years in the business.

Lukouski set his eyes on the $250,000 Fountain Lightning, a white-and-yellow beauty capable of hitting 88 mph. Redman went for the $380,000 Fountain Express, which goes 70 mph and sleeps an entire family. Between them, they forked over $630,000 to National Marine this spring, then waited for delivery. And waited.

But their ships may never come in. National Marine was accused in a federal lawsuit last week of defrauding more than 60 people, taking their money but never delivering the promised speedboats, jet skis, and yachts. The suit also names Sky Financial Group, the Warren bank that extended enough credit for National Marine to buy boats like they were candy bars.

"Usually, banks will check inventory once a month to make sure that nothing has been sold that the bank hasn't been paid for," says Barbara Quinn Smith, the Sandusky lawyer representing Lukouski and Redman. "We're not sure yet what exactly happened, but something very clearly went wrong that enabled this to continue happening." Smith hopes to fold their suit into a class action.

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