According to a story in the Courier-Journal, Robert Felner admitted to using federal grant dollars to buy property around the country so he could grow his non-profit organization that was created for educational research. (Hold your tongue for a moment, it’s hilarious.)
“The reason we invested in the houses, the reason we brokered the account were to just to try to build something up so we could actually have the money to do the kind of work that we wanted to do,” Felner told investigators during the daylong interview, which took place June 20, 2008, at U of L’s College of Education and Human Development.
-SNIP-
Federal officials said during the interview that Felner later moved that money into investment and personal accounts, or made cash withdrawals. According to investigators, Felner also used the money to purchase four properties — two in Florida and one each in Oldham County and Rhode Island.
They say he also used money from the accounts to have landscaping done at the properties, pay property taxes and mortgage costs and fix a home spa.
The properties are all in Felner’s name, but he told investigators during the interview that they were bought as investments for the Illinois-based center.
Told ya it was hilarious. Buying homes that he lived in as investment properties for his non-profit organization. Hahaha.
You’ve gotta read the rest. He claimed, well… just read it. Seriously. We’re attempting to remain a tiny bit impartial but Robert Felner makes it pretty damn difficult.
And there’s this gem, when he blames Shirley Willihnganz for his inability to file conflict of interest forms:
He later added that when he asked people in the college to fill out the forms, they complained about him to U of L Provost Shirley Willihnganz, and she told him to “leave people alone.”
Willihnganz denied telling Felner not to file the forms.
“Consider the source,” Willihnganz said, when contacted about Felner’s comments last week. “I’m really committed to compliance. My commitment on this is well known. It is unwavering.”
Our favorite part of the story is when Robert Felner kept denying having any idea about the status of his non-profit. Which we proved, many months ago, that he did, indeed know everything about. We published emails sent to/from Felner and his cohort Tom Schroeder that discussed that very thing. Several of them. As a refresher, go read them. They are JUICY JUICY.
How long will it be until another Dean from the University of Louisville pens another op-ed about how innocent Robert Felner is? A week? Ten days? Let’s hold our breath.
43 responses so far ↓
1 Cow Pi // Apr 9, 2009 at 9:33 am
Shirley Willywhozit says to consider the source. Burn. And a warning to other stupid fall on sword Deans.
2 jake // Apr 9, 2009 at 9:35 am
I hope this means Shirley is growing a pair.
3 Bob // Apr 9, 2009 at 9:49 am
The fact is that The Source of much of this gross mismanagement is Shirley. It is her job to oversee these matters–and she failed. That’s the word: “Failed.” But she is correct that her stance is well known. That’s why faculty and students don’t take serious issues to her and her “team.” She is the epitome of the university’s having good policies but not enforcing them.
4 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 10:13 am
” On Homes, a Spa, and Lies Galore”
WHEW, this is precious stuff, Jake. If the jury buys Felner’s story, he could sell them the Brooklyn Bridge, near where he began his deceit-filled life in Gotham. On a minor note, one wonders if Shirl got into that spa with Bobby. And I cannot believe that the Belligerent Beast of Belknap, aka Felner, finally admitted his stupidity. Maybe change can happen anywhere, anytime, even when you least expect it. Paddle away, Bobby, you’re headin’ up the river with mud and slime now that the soiled Emperor is completely without clothes.
5 David Harpe // Apr 9, 2009 at 10:24 am
White collar crime. First offense. If he has even a halfway decent lawyer he’ll get probation and community service, probably negotiated before it goes to trial.
IF it goes to trial and IF he’s convicted and IF he does prison it’ll be one of those token 30 day stints. Multiple lawyers will make hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of which will be our taxes at work.
And that will be that.
6 Flag // Apr 9, 2009 at 10:32 am
“Committed to compliance”? Hmm… Sure, Shirley, we know you are. It shows in everything you do.
7 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 11:16 am
“High Crimes, High Senteces”
David Harpe,
I hope you’re wrong. I do recall a case a few years back involving a high state education official in another state. She embezzled $600,000 of federal funds meant for special education. Instead, she used it for face-lifts and to pad her next run for higher office. A first offender, she was found guilty and sentenced to eight years in prison. Any thoughts on that case compared to Felner’s (in that he is accused of filching twice that much)?
8 David Harpe // Apr 9, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Stealing money meant for special education kids is very easy to spin into a tearjerker story for a jury. This one – not so much.
In the trial you mentioned, it’s easy for a lawyer to say things like “This woman kept special needs kids from getting new equipment.” That makes it much easier to convict at a jury trial than what someone might be able to say in a case like the Felner situation.
I’m not saying the crimes he’s accused of are not serious – they are. But this one has little impact outside of the institutions involved. You can wax poetic about how this type of thing degrades everything/everybody/etc., and that may be true. I don’t like the idea of federal funds getting squandered, and that should be dealt with if it was an issue. But in terms of federal prosecutors spending a year and tons MORE taxpayer dollars to set up and do a jury trial just to put the guy in jail, it’s just not a priority for me.
I’d much rather have the feds working on putting away bad guys that kill people with guns and drugs. Those are the guys that you really don’t want out on the street.
A white collar criminal has no revenue generating capability in jail. If he’s guilty and served a big judgment that he has to repay, he can’t pay a dime of our money back until he gets out. In fact, we’d be losing more money simply by having him there.
I’d much rather have a guilty white collar criminal out working to repay what they took versus having them sit in a cell at our expense. Your mileage may vary.
9 jake // Apr 9, 2009 at 12:18 pm
To those who may spout off before being educated on that matter, please read every single post we’ve written about Robert Felner over the past year.
Then you’ll be qualified to comment.
Until then? Don’t spout off.
10 ed // Apr 9, 2009 at 12:35 pm
David Harpe,
Are you a lawyer, or in some substantial way knowledgeable about such judicial matters? I don’t mean that as a challenge to you posts. Rather, I’d like to know if your sense of the outcome is a result of some first hand experience, or simply what you…as an everyman…feel will likely happen.
Like Novena, and I suspect most everyone on this site, I’m sure hoping it’s the latter.
11 Why so scurrilous? // Apr 9, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Mr. Harpe has predicted that Felner and Schroeder are likely to receive only “token” punishment, if they are found guilty.
I guess we will just have to wait and see.
However, I believe that the philosophy that underlies this prediction is totally repugnant. White collar crime has victims just as street crime has victims. White collar crime is no less a form of coercion and exploitation than street crime. Both are forms of oppression.
In Felner’s case the feeling seems to be that the theft is not a big deal because he is accused of stealing from the government. Well, the government prints money, a lot of it, but it doesn’t create the economic value that money supposedly represents. It doesn’t have its own money. It only has money that has been paid, or will be paid, by citizens of this country.
Citizens are able to pay money to the government because they earn it, or will earn it, from jobs and businesses. Frequently, they and their families have to do without many things in order to pay the money the government demands.
Money stolen from the government, at its root, is actually money stolen from people who had to work and sacrifice in order to pay taxes.
If Felner and Schroeder are innocent, that’s one thing. But, if not, it is a disgrace if our legal system is so corrupt and unaccountable that it fails to prosecute and demand punishment for these types of crimes.
Felner and Schroeder deserve a fair trial. But those of us whose money, labor, and sacrifice may have been stolen, also deserve justice.
The UofL administration has already disgraced and discredited itself in the Felner scandal. Let’s hope that the U.S. legal system does not bring more of the same upon itself.
12 David Harpe // Apr 9, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I agree that it’s repugnant, and people should be punished if guilty. But when we live in a world where guys like Michael Milken can leave prison after less than two years and still have a net worth measured in the billions, it is unreasonable to expect more.
13 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 2:52 pm
“Bobby Is Going, Going . . . ”
David Harpe misses the point that the cases of the special ed. official and Felner are rather similar. She stole $600,000 in federal funds intended for disabled children. He is charged with filching twice that much from a “No Child Left Behind” federal grant for disadvantaged kids. There is little difference in kind, but Bobby’s amount is much larger (which means he, if convicted, should get a stiffer sentence than eight years). Juries would be just in detesting the culprits in both cases.
By the way, David, I just read a January, 2009, report from the U. S. Sentencing Commission which stated that about 2/3 of white collar criminals, including some first offenders, end up in prison. So, I still think Bobby will be swimming up the muddy Ohio as naked as a jaybird (and then be in pinstripes as a jailbird).
14 Always Amazed // Apr 9, 2009 at 3:54 pm
“I guess you can violate laws unintentionally. Can’t you? … And, stupid’s not a defense.”
What a poor, stupid, stupid, little man.
Sounds eerily familar to Ramsey’s statement to Mark Hebert that even good people get “a little weak…violating the law now and then.”
Mark, I hope you didn’t make a very big mistake. Hard to picture you defending the defenders of stupidity when you know no one is going to buy that shiz.
Anyone who backed this little worm should be branded with the scarlet “S” for “Shit for brains”.
15 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 4:23 pm
“Felner’s Clever Tricks & Stupid Mistakes”
He should have been less assured of his supposed omnipotence. . . but the honchos and his helpers constantly fed him that lie. He should not have been so cocksure. . . but he got away with academic murder and real-world deception for decades. He did see that he was living in a stupid environment, where those in his stead shared his goals and methods. . . where he would pay no price for his stupidity to others. But, in the end, he got so much pleasure from his stupid acts that he couldn’t see them for what they were: STUPID.
16 Surprised? // Apr 9, 2009 at 4:25 pm
David Harpe: Your prediction makes me sick. These white collar thiefs should be punished the most (with 75 yeras jail ) for their malicious deeds to warnoff others. They are highly educated crooks (fools) who robbed the government and deny the children opportunities.
Crimr is crime, white color, blue color or anyother color. Is justice not color blind?
17 Cannotbelieve it // Apr 9, 2009 at 4:40 pm
David: I can’t believe your argument of “first
offense.” What you are saying that under the pretext of first offense, people can commit any crimes as there will be no penalities or minimal penalities. What a encouragement to commit white collar crimes!! Are you a lawyer? Or is it just your opinion. I disagree. On the contrary, there is a real chance that Bobby might try to entange some other people to accompany him to jail along with his “dear Tom.”
18 David Harpe // Apr 9, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hey guys,
I’m not encouraging it, nor am I saying it’s not disgusting. It is my opinion…based on what you or anyone else can read in any newscast on any given day. White collar crimes are sentenced lighter than other crimes in most cases. Just ask any lawyer you might know (as I have) about what they think will happen.
19 ed // Apr 9, 2009 at 5:06 pm
This is where it starts to get good. The squirming, denials and finger pointing at lover boy. Bobby is in that “say and do anything” mode that comes when you realize your ass is grass and your lawyer has trouble looking you in the eye.
You just GOTTA love that long arm of justice.
Hey…I’m pretty sure I hear Bubba panting in anticipation. Do you hear it too, Bobby?
Payback sure is a bitch, little man.
20 Nomercy // Apr 9, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Robert Felnor is one of those hateful people who don’t deserve mercy, not from his colleagues, not from the family, not from the community, sure not from the law. Cannot believe it, do you think SS would like to keep Felnor’s company. He has always tried to protect him from others.
21 ed // Apr 9, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Nomercy,
If you feel Little Bobby deserves no mercy, you’ve come to the right place!!!
22 jake // Apr 9, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Everyone deserves fairness. Even murderers.
But everyone should have to answer to and pay for their crimes.
23 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 5:36 pm
“No Mercy for the Little Man?”
The 19th-century preacher, Frederick W. Robertson, said it best: “There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy: hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.” Bobby is a triple-crown loser.
24 Always Amazed // Apr 9, 2009 at 6:03 pm
What about the precedent set by Dixie Elementary principal Adrian Sanford?
http://thevillevoice.com/2009/02/18/jail-time-for-ex-dixie-principal/
And he only stole $69,000.
25 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 6:21 pm
“Felner’s Long Walk to Oblivion”
Always Amazed,
Excellent, and very recent, example. Adrian Sanford got five years in prison for stealing $69,000 from the elementary school he headed. Again, that is pocket change compared to Felner’s haul (about $1.2 million). Regardless of Harpe’s forecast (I trust the U.S. Sentencing Study I cited much more), I think Bobby will be a graybeard, looking like Karl Marx or Walt Whitman, before he gets out of The Big House and sets foot on free land.
26 Wondering // Apr 9, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Nomercy: What do you mean by SS? Is it some one a sneaky snake or a stupid sucker?
Novena: bobby is surely going to change from a jumping john to limping larry. Jennifer and Natalie won’t able to recognize their sweet heart.
He going to play all kinds of games. Make up a lot of stories that he has a prostrate cancer. “It was an innocent mistake. I can not help but laugh when he asked the investigators ” Am I in trouble?” What do you think, Mr. Dean? You are so stupid, blobby.
27 Flag // Apr 9, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I am wondering if any of the “crimes against persons” will be aired in court, which of course is the hot button topic for many of the bloggers here.
28 Novena // Apr 9, 2009 at 8:26 pm
“A Little CEHD Quiz, What Is”
For Wondering: Nomercy’s reference to “SS” refers to one of the following (you guess):
a) steam ship (British usage)
b) Secret Service (U. S. variety)
c) Social Security (seniors’ version)
d) Schutzstaffel (body guards for Nazi honchos)
e) Sam Stringfield (ex-Felner amigo in arms)
29 Wondering // Apr 9, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Thanks, Novena. Wow! I got it. But I heard he is world famous scholar. He is also connected with famous John Hopkins. Is he not too tall to stoop to lowly acts?
30 Tirnstile // Apr 9, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Bernie Madoff
31 marie // Apr 10, 2009 at 1:03 am
Mercy me.
Many of the current and ex- UofL people posting on this site were shown no mercy despite earnest and repeated pleas. Felner and his ilk know nothing of compassion and get their kicks from cruelty (time passes slowly when you’re bored). The Shirleys and JRs of this world are worse than worthless; they’re in league. (Her vapid compliance statement notwithstanding).
From Northup to the Medical School Dean, Felner has had no shortage of “supporters”.
Not mercy exactly but blind faith. Like my former director re: my boss: he didn’t have to do an investigation; he just knew she didn’t do it.
Those were the Bush years so I guess you lived according to your “gut”.
Everyone is entitled to mercy but it’s like torture; one of the reasons you never do it is you don’t want it being done to you.
“Teach me to feel another’s woe, To hide the
fault I see; That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.”
(a look around Bartlett’s)
But when the assault of battering rams is still fresh, forgiveness and mercy are tenuous.
News travels; I’m sure word of Bobby’s exploits
and bulletproof status emboldened the like-minded.
So, please (to the Like-Minded), with the red-hot proceeds from another’s research, move away.
To Truth or Consequences?
32 Novena // Apr 10, 2009 at 5:34 am
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
Yes, Marie, no compassion from Felner and his sidekicks. More like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” He made his crew near duplicates of himself, who thought and acted alike–like plant pods. In a few years, they had replaced many of the nay-saying, alive, and human faculty. The Felner crew was an American brand of fascist police. Only a warehouse fire, the burning allegations against Bobby, could halt their rampage. Now, we have the smoldering remains and the sound of silence.
33 Rant // Apr 10, 2009 at 6:37 am
Why do we speak in the past tense. The Felner appointees are still in charge and still attacking the same faculty. Every department chair in Education is a Felnerite, each one unqualified in her or his own right. The huge salaries are still for those who supported Felner while those who objected still suffer from professional assassination.
34 ed // Apr 10, 2009 at 8:00 am
Flag,
I’d love for his “crimes against persons” to be part of his trial. In that case, the jury wouldn’t even need the 17,000+ pages of evidence to convict him and he’d certainly be sentenced to the full 75 years of Bubba bumping. But I doubt it will.
As I said some months ago, it’ll be like Al Capone. Those of us who despise him for all those reasons will have to “settle” for whatever gets that bastard behind bars. I’m ok with that.
It’s been a while, Tirn. Welcome.
Novena, you mention 1.2. I thought between U of L and URI the number was more like 2.4.
Jake, I wasn’t suggesting that Bobby doesn’t deserve a fair trial….just no mercy. Huge difference….even though something feels grossly wrong about using the words Bobby and fair in the same sentence.
Any rumblings out there about any possible trial date?? As with all foreplay, the events of the past few months have certainly built excitement and I’m getting ready for the big plunge.
35 Novena // Apr 10, 2009 at 8:44 am
“No Clearing of the CEHD Decks”
Rant & ed:
You’re right, Rant. The Felnerites are still in command of that hoary brand of gnosticism in the CEHD halls. The Cardinal shame continues at the Belknap Vatican.
Ed, the 1.2 million figure I gave was for only one of the institutions involved. Double it and Bobby could be growing toe nails as large as Howard Hughes’ before he emerges from the depths of The Big House and Bubba’s wily ways.
36 ed // Apr 10, 2009 at 9:01 am
Then here’s hoping Bubba has a talon fetish.
37 Still Suffering // Apr 10, 2009 at 10:04 am
Rant wrote, “The Felner appointees are still in charge and still attacking the same faculty. Every department chair in Education is a Felnerite, each one unqualified in her or his own right.” They just appointed a Felner-loving, know-nothing department chair to Teaching and Learning, making it very clear they are still worried about the Indians getting control of the reservation. Nothing has changed and it seems nothing ever will.
38 Novena // Apr 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm
“Status Quo, Status Woe”
Still Suffering, the UofL honchos want to keep Felnerites in office and other CEHD faculty and staff “on the reservation” for various reasons:
(1) to make changes would admit past mistakes and misdeeds;
(2) they feel more comfortable with their buddies as mid-level transmitters;
(3) the latter are more apt to act like fawning lambs;
(4) academic control is more important to them than academic integrity, academic freedom, academic accountability and oversight, or even simple human justice.
(5) faculty and staff are seen as faceless slot-holders who can be replaced without much thought (except that the replacements must bring in lucrative federal grants, no matter how mindless and inconsequential).
39 Novena // Apr 10, 2009 at 2:34 pm
“Alfonso Roberto Felnero Capone”
Since ed brought up Al Capone, here are some similarities between Al & Bobby:
1) born and raised in Brooklyn, NY
2) cultivated influence with higher-ups in the organization
3) surrounded themselves with mobster sycophants
4) owned houses in Florida
5) owed back taxes
6) final prison sentence for Al: 11 years–and for Bobby?
7) little men of mean spirit and criminal mentality
8) rose to the top of their profession before being rudely and justly brought down
any additions from the audience?
40 Flag // Apr 10, 2009 at 5:58 pm
It seems that the outrage that has been rightly expressed here for nearly a year now is not about the crimes Felner is charged with. All of this feeling of having been (and continuing to be?) mistreated, which I accept as real, isn’t going to be ameliorated through his trial and sentencing for his crime of stealing. Maybe a class action lawsuit against the University administration would be in order for being negligent and complicit in Felner’s long saga of harassment, psychological abuse, and probable violation of rights. Has anyone actually consulted an attorney? SW and JR need to be put under oath and asked a few questions. If they commit perjury or conspire to do so, well… that might solve a lot of problems in itself. Getting rid of them is key to getting out from under the oppressive situation that apparently still prevails.
41 ed // Apr 10, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Novena,
You continue to kill me. The only addition I can think of is the women they both surrounded themselves with who were drawn by the money and power.
Unless, of course, Capone had a guy on the side.
42 Novena // Apr 10, 2009 at 9:29 pm
“Capone Was More Faithful than Bobby”
For ed:
Alfonso had only one wife, Mae Coughlin, who gave birth to their only child a month before their marriage. Al was was the manager of the Four Deuces (a Chicago speakeasy, gambling joint and brothel), so no telling what he may have gotten on the side. He did do some charity work, e.g., opening up housing for the homeless and a soup kitchen during the Depression (at his own expense). All in all, he sounds like a more faithful, humanitarian guy than Bobby (the murders, etc., would count as something else).
P.S. Mae was a brunette, not a blonde. So, that is another difference from the Bobster.
43 Novena // Apr 10, 2009 at 9:45 pm
“Addendum to Last Posting on Al”
He did get syphillis, which was left untreated. He died of a brain tumor about 7 years later.
Didn’t Bobby spread tall tales about his having prostate cancer? So, there is another half-commonality, though in this case Al was more honest.
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