[Shawnee123]

Nelnet Subpoenas Ed. Dept. for Records that Could Show the Bush Administration’s Complicity in 9.5 Scandal

http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/..._bush_administ

Higher Ed Watch has learned that the student loan company Nelnet recently had a subpoena issued to the U.S. Department of Education for documents it believes will definitively show that the agency's former leaders signed off on the company's plan to aggressively grow its 9.5 percent student loan holdings. Nelnet took this action shortly after a federal court judge ruled in favor of allowing a False Claims lawsuit filed by Jon Oberg, the former Education Department researcher who uncovered the 9.5 student loan scandal, to proceed against the company and five other lenders.

Nelnet officials certainly believe that they were given the green light. In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the company’s lawyers made clear that they intend to make the Department’s role in the case a central part of their defense.


“In the case of Nelnet, the evidence would include witnesses to meetings between the company and the Department regarding this issue. It would include witnesses to phone calls between the company and the Department. It would include witnesses to the settlement agreement entered into between the company and the Department. All of these witnesses would testify to matters that reflect the intent of Nelnet...”


At Higher Ed Watch, we are pleased by these developments, as we believe that this type of information should have seen the light of day years ago. After all, doesn’t the public have a right to know whether government officials were complicit in a scheme to fleece taxpayers? And doesn’t it have the right to see how the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program has been a magnet for fraud and abuse?


As we’ve said before, Jon Oberg should be congratulated for his tenacity in trying to get to the bottom of the scandal. It looks like his efforts are starting to yield results.


[Editor's Note: A spokesman for Nelnet declined to comment on the subpoena, except to say,"We believe the allegations of the lawsuit are entirely meritless and intend to vigorously defend the claims."]