The Attorney General took his cue from New York's AG, Andrew Cuomo, who's made national headlines in his pursuit of unethical or illegal relationships between lenders and post-secondary schools. Dann asked 111 Ohio schools to provide any and all information and documents they may have about their relationships with lenders, and 20 lenders to do the same regarding their ties to schools. Dann says he's looking for improprieties such as kickbacks and gifts school officials may have received in exchange for steering loans to so-called "preferred lenders".
Marc Dann: My hope is that in the best case that there's none of this type of activity going on in Ohio, and if there isn't then we'll congratulate everybody and send them on their way. But if it's happening in New York and Pennsylvania and Illinois, and public schools and private schools, then it's very likely going on here in Ohio as well.
Tuesday afternoon Dann's office reported 76 school and only four lenders had complied with the request. Dann had set a deadline of 5 pm Friday. He says he'll file subpoenas to obtain the information if necessary. Bill Rice, 90.3.