Details are surfacing from an FBI investigation into a land deal orchestrated by Jane Sanders, the wife of 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, including that she allegedly tried to boot disabled residents from their home.
Investigators are looking into a $10 million loan obtained by Jane Sanders as president of Burlington College, which bought the land and buildings where the disabled residents were living.
The loan ultimately failed and the college collapsed and shut its doors. The investigation is focusing on whether Jane Sanders claimed there was $2.6 million pledged in donations for the loan while the college got only $676,000 in donations in four years.
The Washington watchdog Judicial Watch has obtained records “that paint a rather disturbing personal portrait of a heartless spouse – and longtime political adviser – of the Democratic Socialist candidate for president of the United States.”
Judicial Watch explained the background: Jane Sanders was president of the “troubled college” from 2004 to 2011 and in 2010 set up a loan and land purchase of 33 acres, “despite low enrollment and financial difficulties.”
“The loan went through, some allege after her husband’s senatorial office pressured the bank to approve it, and Jane masterminded a deal to purchase an undeveloped, 32-acre parcel of land and a 77,000-square-foot facility from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. The purchase included a facility that served as a group home for disabled people and, under the terms of the deal, Jane was supposed to negotiate the transfer of the disabled residents before the school took over the property,” Judicial Watch said.
“Instead Jane tried to kick the disabled people out of their group home, records obtained by Judicial Watch show. The records, part of an ongoing Judicial Watch investigation into the Jane Sanders fraud case, include electronic mail exchanges between Jane when she was president of Burlington College and two former mayors of the city of Burlington.”
The report said: “In a lengthy letter to the attorney (Todd Centybear) representing the group home for the disabled Jane indicates that she’s having trouble evicting the 16 residents from their building on the newly purchased property after the college had acquired the land. She writes: ‘It is simply not fair to expect the college to continue to carry the burden of the expenses associated with housing both your population and ours until February 2012.’ The home for the disabled was being leased from the diocese and Jane was supposed to help relocate the residents, not evict them. The exchange shows, not only Jane’s heartlessness, but also her incompetence as the college president for not ensuring the negotiated transfer of those disabled people before the school took over the property.”
Sen. Sanders has defended his wife, charging that accusations against her are “fairly pathetic.”
“When you go after people’s wives that is really pathetic. … It’s fairly pathetic that when people are involved in public life, it’s not only that they get attacked, but it’s their wives and their families that get attacked. That’s what this is about.”
Sen. Sanders apparently has not ruled out a presidential bid in 2020, even though he would be nearly 80 at the time the next presidential term starts.
Judicial Watch reported the Sanders have “lawyered up.”
Two people who pledged money to the campaign confirmed their personal financial records show Jane Sanders’ assumptions were overstated and that they were not aware the pledges were used to secure the loan, VTDigger reported.
Jane Sanders resigned as president of the college under pressure from the board of trustees, allegedly for her “difficulty meeting fund-raising goals.” The college later closed in 2016 due to financial ruin.
Meanwhile, she collected a $200,000 golden parachute.
New reports also are emerging that Bernie Sanders’ senatorial office may be implicated in the investigation as well.
A complaint from attorney Brady Toensing claims that Sanders’ office pressured People’s United Bank to approve the loan.
“I filed a request for an investigation in January 2016 and an investigation appears to have been started right away,” Toensing told CBS News.
“It was started under President Obama, his Attorney General, and his U.S. Attorney, all of whom are Democrats,” he continued. “My only hope is for a fair, impartial, and thorough investigation.”
Sen. Sanders rejects the claims of corruption as political slander, calling the accusations “an absolute lie.”
Further under investigation, apparently, is a deal Jane Sanders brokered between Burlington College and the Vermont Woodworking School, a nearby facility where Burlington College students could take courses.
The Vermont Woodworking School was co-founded and run by Sen. Sanders’ stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll.
According to tax documents, Burlington College paid substantial amounts of money to the barely-profitable Vermont Woodworking School, including $500,000 for “materials charges and lease of bench space,” as well as payments to Driscoll herself for “administrative work.”
While Burlington College was failing, nearly half the tuition of each student was going to the Vermont Woodworking School, led by Jane Sanders’ daughter, documents show.
One former department chair told VTDigger that they were uncomfortable with the appearance of conflicts of interests surrounding the two schools. Others said that the relationship was purely professional.
The woodworking school itself appears not to be under investigation.
But both Jane Sanders and Carina Driscoll also provided “political consulting” for Bernie Sanders in the 2002 and 2004 House races.
Under Sanders & Driscoll LCC, Jane Sanders received more than $90,000 from Bernie Sanders’ campaigns.
Carina Driscoll received a salary of $65,000 through the Sanders’ campaign from 2000-2004, Vanity Fair reports.
