Ex-Congressman Solicits $80,000 From For-Profit Colleges for Court Paper Aimed At Shielding Fraud

The Republican ex-congressman who now works as the chief lobbyist for the troubled for-profit college industry has ushered in the new year with an email asking for-profit college owners to finance a legal brief aimed at limiting the legal risk of companies in fraud cases. The amount that Steve Gunderson, CEO of the industry trade group APSCU, says he needs to pay for the single, short brief he proposes to file with the U.S. Corte Suprema de Justicia? $80,000. La email, obtained by Republic Report, opens with a hearty “Happy New Year!” greeting but then gets down to business, with Gunderson describing what’s at stake in a case the Supreme Court will consider this term, Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar: Basically, whether a company can be held liable for fraud under the federal False Claims Act whenever it submits a bill to the government while in violation of a legal condition for receiving payment.

LEER MÁS: Huffingtonpost.com