Sanders Dismisses Burlington College Allegations As Political
Source: VT Digger
BURLINGTON — In a rare interview with local media, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., dismissed as politically motivated “nonsense” the notion that his office pressured a bank to approve a loan for a college operated by his wife.
Sanders was asked by WCAX on Friday about allegations from Vermont GOP Vice Chair Brady Toensing that Sanders’ Senate office pressured People’s United Bank to grant the $6.7 million loan Jane Sanders secured as Burlington College president.
The college used that loan to purchase of a lakefront campus in 2010. Burlington College closed last year under the “crushing weight” of debt incurred in that land deal.
Toensing sent a letter to the U.S. attorney for Vermont and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation calling for a probe into whether Jane Sanders committed fraud by overstating pledged donations used to secure the loan. The Justice Department has been investigating the college, according to documents, donors and former employees.
Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/05/09/sanders-dismisses-burlington-college-allegations-political/
= new reply since forum marked as read
and it's still a distraction.
. . . brought to mind something I read elsewhere, something that now evades me. Oh, well . . .
Here's the paragraph:
Moore, who was Holm's boss at the time, was aware of the FBI's interest. She said it was clear from the start what the bureau was investigating: "Was there any collusion between Jane Sanders and the bank? Did she falsify records in order to get the loan from the bank?"
Maybe I'll remember what it was I read elsewhere by doing a sorta mixed-up timeline, viz:
1. Holm wias hired by Burlington College in 2012 and, therefore, her initial boss would have been President Pluckett, former CFO when the land deal was made.
2. Moore became the college's president two years later, in 2014, after Pluckett resigned.
3. Moore said (somewhere in all of those links I bookmarked!) that she hadn't worked at the college before she was hired as its president.
4. In 2010, the year when the land deal was made, neither Holm nor Moore were employed by the college. Nor were they there when Sanders was president. (Sanders resigned in 2011.)
5. Yet . . . "Moore "...said it was clear from the start what the bureau was investigating: 'Was there any collusion between Sanders and the bank? Did she falsify records in order to get the loan from the bank.'" . . . as if it's possible for either Moore or Holm to give answers to such questions when they weren't even around when the land deal was made---there could be no answer except , "How should I know? I wasn't there."
6. Holm aided the FBI because she obviously had access to the loan documents and electronic files . .but she said her search for the documentation of the gifts and pledges was unsuccessful.
7. If I remember correctly, Holm is said to have turned over all the records she had to the FBI and, eventually, they were returned to the college. If tt the FBI didn't find documentation of the gifts and pledges in the college's files, isn't it possible they could be located in the bank's loan records? Wouldn't the bank have a documentation record in its files, considering such a record would have been part of the loan application?
8. And . . . wouldn't there be in the bank's files information related to the refinancing of the loan? Records dealing with the sale of 80% of the land purchased in 2010 to a real estate developer in 2015? The settlement with the Catholic Diocese?
9. 2016
January---Toensing complaint to US Attorney
February --Investigation begins
April ---bank pulls the plug (according to Moore, there would have been a surplus the following year if the bank had waited 3 months---new students enrolled.)
May ---College closes its doors.
10. #9 (above) is what came to mind when I read that paragraph in your post, this paragraph:
Moore, who was Holm's boss at the time, was aware of the FBI's interest. She said it was clear from the start what the bureau was investigating: "Was there any collusion between Jane Sanders and the bank? Did she falsify records in order to get the loan from the bank?"
Now, it leads me back to a Boston Globe article covering the college's closing. It seems that, on graduation day, everyone at the college but its students knew the doors were going to close in a couple days. It's interesting to note that, of all things, the real estate developer who ended up with 80% of the 2010 land purchase was given an honorary degree! So . . .
#9-a -- revision for May, 2016 --- Real estate developer, who knew a bargain when he saw one, receives honorary degree from college . . . and college closes its doors a couple days later.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/27/burlington-college-closes-under-unwanted-spotlight/vQcws7acOi4uuo8FtPresM/story.html
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It's an all-around sad state of affairs for everyone directly and indirectly hurt. But as I keep saying: "It'll all come out in the wash." . . . knowing dirt isn't all that comes out and sometimes there's a sock or two missing.
P.S.
If you've read this far, thank you for your time. No need to reply. I'm gonna try to stay away from this place for a few days and I've decided to go back to lurking-mode . . . lurking-mode being much less time-consuming. Besides: In this post, I've been simply thinking (and sorta writing) out loud . . . up all night while probably less than half-awake.
