Texas Southern University President Austin Lane was fired in February after he was accused of fraud and misuse of charity funds. Now, Lane will receive a $900,000 settlement over his termination from the university.
According to a report by Campus Reform, the former president of Historically Black College (HBCU) Texas Southern University will receive a substantial settlement for a lawsuit he filed over the university’s decision to fire him after accusing him of fraud and misuse of charity funds.
Lane claimed that the accusations against him were unfounded and filed an appeal to his termination in February. Shortly thereafter, the university agreed to a $900,000 settlement with Lane.
In a statement, the university said that an internal investigation concluded that Dr. Lane failed to report improper payments that were made to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and the improper awarding of scholarships.
The Texas Southern University Board of Regents voted today to propose the termination of Dr. Austin A. Lane. This action is based on an audit committee’s finding that Dr. Lane violated his contract, including the termination for cause provision. His actions relate in part to failure to report to the board information relating to improper payments for admissions to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and for the improper awarding of scholarships to students, which led in part to the initiation of a comprehensive investigation. The improprieties in the law school involved a former official who is no longer employed in the law school.
A team of third-party investigators found that Dr. Lane failed to inform the university’s board of trustees about allegations of fraud that had been made by a school official. The fraud included allegations that a student bribed an official in exchange for admission to the school.
An investigation conducted by the University’s internal auditor, third-party investigators and board counsel concluded that Dr. Lane failed to appropriately act on or inform the Board about allegations of fraud committed by the former law school official, including evidence of a student payment for admission to the school. These and other actions had the effect of concealing such fraud. The investigation also found attempts to conceal excessive entertainment expenses through a process inconsistent with Dr. Lane’s contract that would have prevented Board scrutiny of such expenses. It also found that Dr. Lane and his assistant attempted to direct another former law school official to misrepresent a report to a national law school accreditation review board. The Board took additional steps to confirm its findings utilizing three separate law firms to assist with the process.
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