From The Associated Press, 4/12/07:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202344.html
Education Dept. Oversight Questioned
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON --
An Education Department official placed on leave over a potential
conflict of interest in his management of the government's student
loan program filed disclosure forms that raise questions about the
department's oversight of its own employees.
The forms, released by the department late Thursday, show the
official, Matteo Fontana, listed ownership in 2002 of stock in two
companies that manage student loans:
Direct III Marketing Inc. and Education Lending Group.
In fact, the companies are the same; Direct III Marketing changed its
name to Education Lending Group at about that time.
Fontana valued the stock in each in the range of $1,000 to $15,000.
Department rules generally allow employees to work on matters
affecting companies they own stock in so long as the amount does not
exceed $15,000.
By listing his holdings in the company under two names, Fontana could
have avoided raising a red flag for the department's ethics lawyers
over whether his holdings constituted a conflict of interest.
His disclosure forms state that Fontana sold all his stock in the
company in December 2002.
But a separate disclosure the company filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission nine months later lists him as offering 10,500
shares of Education Lending Group for sale.
His disclosure form for that year makes no mention of ownership of
such stock.
Fontana's disclosure for 2004 shows that on July 7 of that year, he
sold common stock in a company listed only as EDLG worth $100,000 to
$250,000, investing a like amount in a vacation home.
EDLG is an abbreviation for Education Lending Group Inc.
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Another day another Republic scandal
Harry
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