Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and wife Jane Sanders have hired two high-powered attorneys to represent her in a FBI investigation for alleged fraud. Jeff Weaver, an adviser for the Vermont Senator, told POLITICO that they’ve hired Burlington-based Rich Cassidy, and defense lawyer Larry Robbins, known for representing I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
The investigation stems from an Jan. 10, 2016 letter sent to the then-U.S Attorney for Vermont, Eric S. Miller. The law firm diGenova & Toensing LLP, representing local parishioners, contend that Burlington College President Jane Sanders engaged in fraud when her school purchased land from a Catholic diocese.
In 2010, the now-defunct Burlington took out a bank loan to make the deal, but that required a minimum commitment of $2.27 million in grant and donations. The letter, authored by Bracy C. Toensing, said she supplied evidence saying they had $2.6 million in the needed money.
But it didn’t turn out to be the case, Toensing said.
“At the end of fiscal year 2011 (six months after closing on the loan), Ms. Sanders had collected only $279,000 in donations, which was less than 25 percent of the $1.2 million Ms. Sanders guaranteed to the bank that she would have collected in that year,” he wrote.
In a May interview with WCAX, Sen. Sanders dismissed the allegation because Toensing was the Vermont campaign manager for Donald Trump.
Toensing responded to this in an email to POLITICO.
“The investigation was started more than a year ago under President Obama, his Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and his United States Attorney, all of whom are Democrats,” he wrote.
LawNewz.com has reached out to Cassidy and Robbins for comment.
[Screengrab via TYT Politics]