EDMC ed mgmt corp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Management_Corporation

pbs frontline
<div>=</div><div>bloomberg</div><div>
</div><div><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6875rem;">White Paper</h3>Alford, who’s also <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.uschamber.com/about/board-directors" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">on the board</a> of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, branched out into other issues. In 2011, he campaigned against a proposed Department of Education <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/obama-administration-announces-final-rules-protect-students-poor-performing-career-college-programs" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">rule</a> that would cut off student aid at schools that saddle graduates with too much debt relative to earnings.Alford released a <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/NBCC_The%20Keystone%20Kops%20FINAL%204%2028%2011.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">white paper</a>, held media <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/audio/5.9.11%20Conference%20Call.mp3" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">conference calls</a>, started a website and <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/Alford%20Testimony%20July%208%202011%20FINAL.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">testified before Congress</a>, arguing that the rule would diminish opportunities for minority students. Education Management Corp., one of the schools affected by the rule and a DCI client, was listed as a sponsor of the National Black Chamber’s annual convention in <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://nationalbcc.org/news/progress-reports/2107-recap-of-22nd-annual-conference" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">2014</a> and <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-convenes-in-hollywood-fl-300113813.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">2015</a>.Another convention sponsor was Penn National Gaming Inc. In 2012, the company <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/lgbt-groups-gambling-mailer-funded-by-casino-grou?utm_term=.ixB0gBD01#.xqNRZPAR1" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">hired DCI</a> to torpedo a ballot measure that would expand gambling in Maryland, threatening Penn casinos. The measure passed despite Alford’s <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/ballot-proposition-increases-corporate-welfare/article_c0dd8eaf-5b93-58bd-95e8-acee3c20dbe4.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">syndicated column</a> in black newspapers urging a “no” vote. A spokesman for Penn said the gambling company has been a member of the chamber since 2008.In recent years, Alford has taken an interest in the rights of investors in securities, an emerging DCI specialty. In 2009, he <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-supports-congressional-efforts-to-remedy-argentine-debt-62044662.html?$G1Ref" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">urged Congress</a> to punish Argentina for refusing to repay bonds whose owners included hedge fund manager Paul Singer. And last year, he <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://nationalbcc.org/news/latest-news/2702-puerto-rico-debt-crisis" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">wrote</a> a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan asking him to consider the rights of holders of Puerto Rican bonds.Alford filed legal briefs in two court cases that indirectly helped shareholders of the mortgage company Fannie Mae, another DCI cause. They are among more than a dozen the chamber has filed as a friend of the court in the past decade on issues ranging from retirement advice to labor unions. They include two that supported another DCI client, the family of Texas billionaire J. Howard Marshall II, in feuds with his widow Anna Nicole Smith and the Internal Revenue Service.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6875rem;">Feeding Lines</h3>Sometimes, Alford’s public statements leave clues that someone else is feeding him lines. The Huffington Post <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/edmc-op-ed-fake-name_us_565dfd56e4b079b2818c100b" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">pointed out</a> that his 2015 op-ed in the Hill defending Education Management contained a parenthetical note to Alford from the piece’s actual author that hadn’t been removed.A 2010 chamber <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/RELEASE%20NBCC%20amicus%20brief.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">press release</a> about the Marshalls’ battle with Smith was written by a junior DCI employee, whose name appears as the electronic document’s author. The same goes for a 2013 Alford letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission defending Samsung in the patent dispute with Apple.Alford’s campaigns haven’t always meshed with DCI’s. He’s a <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.mastercard.com/us/company/en/newsroom/durbin_amendment_passing.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">critic</a> of the Durbin Amendment, which limits debit-card swipe fees. DCI’s <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/grass_roots_lobbying_tactics_evade_public_eye-223372-1.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">retailer clients</a> support it. In 2014, Visa Inc., one of the biggest opponents of Durbin, <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/news/latest-news/2084-national-black-chamber-of-commerce-convention-kicks-off-in-chicago-with-desiree-rogers-alphonso-jackson-j-alexander-martin-david-otunga-claudia-jordan-and-chef-roble-headlining" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">sponsored</a> a reception at the chamber’s convention in Chicago.DCI was founded in 1996 by three public relations executives who had <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/UCSexxon_report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">worked for</a> R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. They’d pioneered the use of smokers’ rights groups to promote the industry’s message. At DCI, their client base expanded to include companies such as AT&T Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.The chamber isn’t the only nonprofit that has frequently worked alongside DCI. The public-affairs firm <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/us/politics/puerto-rico-money-debt.html?r=0" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">recruited</a> the 60 Plus Association, which bills itself as a conservative answer to the AARP, to lead a campaign in favor of holders of Puerto Rican bonds, according to the New York Times. The Center for Individual Freedom, created by a tobacco operative in 1998, has taken positions on behalf of Fannie Mae shareholders, Puerto Rico bondholders and the Marshall family.</div><div></div><div>halperin RRep</div><div>
</div><div>Schools: The Art Institutes, Argosy University, Brown Mackie College, South UniversityTaxpayer aid (U.S. Department of Education funding) last year: $1.47 billionCurrent & recent law enforcement investigations or actions:U.S. Department of Justice; at least twelve state attorneys general including those of Pennsylvania, Colorado, Massachusetts, Kentucky, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota; the City Attorney of San Francisco. <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.republicreport.org/2014/law-enforcement-for-profit-colleges/&sa=D&ust=1466462132645000&usg=AFQjCNEJY_GKas0KhzlvXCcP9dY2wTZ87Q" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Details</a>.Sample troubling behavior:<ul class="c25 lst-kix_dnl36symmf5b-0 start" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="c3 c9" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The U.S. Justice Department joined a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit alleging that for over a decade Pittsburgh-based EDMC violated the federal law prohibiting for-profit colleges from paying sales commissions to their recruiters, resulting in ill-gotten gains from the government of some $11 billion. The Justice Department alleged that EDMC told its recruiters to use high-pressure tactics, exploit the psychological vulnerabilities of potential recruits, overstate job placement claims, enroll applicants even if they could not write coherently, and enroll students in online programs even if they had no computer.  Meanwhile, more than a dozen state attorneys general pursued a joint investigation of EDMC regarding alleged misconduct in recruiting and provision of student loans. In November 2015, EDMC settled these charges by agreeing to pay $95 million to resolve the whistleblower case (the largest False Claims Act settlement ever with a for-profit college), and to forgive about about $103 million in loans to get rid of the state claims. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called the settlement “a historic step forward in our collective ongoing fight against fraudulent and abusive practices in the for-profit college industry.” She called EDMC “a high pressure recruitment mill.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan added that EDMC “outright lied” to the government when it certified its compliance with the law prohibiting sales commissions. EDMC admitted no wrongdoing. <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/unrepentant-edmc-ceo-will_b_8576800.html&sa=D&ust=1466462132646000&usg=AFQjCNFpnW4OE_LrtPkPSys6wcbmTB_CUg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Some felt</a> the company got off way too easy, by pleading that it had little cash in the bank; the company continues to receive over $100 million a month in taxpayer money.</li></ul><ul class="c25 lst-kix_dnl36symmf5b-0 start" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="c3 c9" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In December 2013, EDMC agreed to pay $3.3 million in restitution and fines to settle charges with the Colorado attorney general that its Argosy University engaged in deceptive marketing practices. Argosy led students to believe that the school was working to get its doctorate of education in counseling psychology degrees accredited by the American Psychological Association and that graduates would be eligible to be licensed psychologists in Colorado, but that was not the case.</li></ul><ul class="c25 lst-kix_dnl36symmf5b-0 start" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="c3 c9" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EDMC schools are so pricey that they can be almost twice as expensive as Harvard for a student on financial aid. For example, EDMC’s New England Institute of Art’s list price one-year tuition is $18,552, compared with Harvard’s $37,576. But Harvard provides much more of its own financial aid to many of its students.  So, in fact, the net price of earning a four-year degree from the New England Institute of Art, including living expenses, costs the average student on financial aid about $132,400 out of pocket, above the grant aid that the school receives for the student from the federal government.  The net price of a four-year degree from Harvard for the average student on financial aid is about $73,100. The net price for a four-year degree at the state school Massachusetts College of Art and Design is $66,404.  At Massasoit Community College, for a two-year degree, it’s $14,132.  </li></ul><ul class="c25 lst-kix_dnl36symmf5b-0 start" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="c3 c9" style="box-sizing: border-box;">At a 2010 Senate hearing, Kathleen Bittel, a former recruiter and career counselor for EDMC, testified about the disparity between the size of the school’s recruitment staff and its job placement staff: “I see a systemic problem here when there are only nine employees servicing the students that are being recruited by an admissions workforce of almost 1600. Career Services employees are being paid nearly a third of what the top performers in the admissions department receive. I believe these facts speak volumes as to where the real priorities lie within these companies.”         </li></ul><ul class="c25 lst-kix_dnl36symmf5b-0 start" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="c3 c9" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In 2012, EDMC designated a Vancouver, Canada, college it owns as a satellite campus of one of its U.S. colleges located 1,500 miles away in Phoenix. Why?  <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/did-for-profit-college-ed_b_2930603.html&sa=D&ust=1466462132647000&usg=AFQjCNHpxN_kBkC1jnx_TWScAi4NTrTwBg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">One possible advantage</a> was to evade the federal 90/10 rule, which requires for-profit colleges to obtain at least ten percent of their revenue from sources besides the U.S. Department of Education. Ninety percent of the Vancouver students were Canadian and thus ineligible for U.S. student aid. The combined Vancouver/ Phoenix campus thus had a much better chance to meet the 90/10 requirement.</li></ul>CEO: Mark McEachen
Prominent advocates & validators:
Charlie Black. In the past year, EDMC paid $280,000 for lobbying services to Prime Policy Group, whose registered lobbyists on the account include the firm’s chairman, Charles R. Black.  The firm’s website boasts that Black serves “as a principal legislative and public affairs advisor to several Fortune 500 companies and trade associations.” It also notes that “Charlie is best known as one of America’s leading Republican political strategists.” Indeed, Black was a senior advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; was once chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee; and was a senior political advisor to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. EDMC also paid $220,000 in the same period for lobbying by the law firm Barnes & Thornburgh LLP, whose lobbyists for the company included Edward Ayoob, a former legislative counsel to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (NV).  Each firm indicated in its disclosure form that its lobbying mandate for EDMC included the Obama “gainful employment” rule, aimed at penalized career education programs for consistently saddling students with debt they cannot afford to repay. Prime Policy Group and Barnes & Thornburgh each filed a disclosure notice in spring 2016, indicating that its representation of EDMC had ended.
John Danielson. John M. Danielson is <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.edmc.edu/About/Board.aspx&sa=D&ust=1466462132650000&usg=AFQjCNHhOlMWhXRQVXyDbG7Pjuwfr9DVUw" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">chairman of the EDMC board of directors</a>. According to his bio, “Danielson served as a key advisor to former U.S. Secretary of Education and current U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander from 1990 to 1995.” (Alexander was Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush from 1991 to 1993.) From 2001 to 2003, Danielson was chief of staff at the Department of Education in the George W. Bush administration. In 2005, he co-founded, and he continues to run, Chartwell Education Group, “an international education-consulting firm.” From 2010 to 2013, he served, at the appointment of Obama Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, as a peer reviewer in the K-12 Race to the Top state and district competitions.  Danielson also serves on the board of Vatterott Educational Centers, a Missouri-based for-profit college company with a <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/what-college-was-michael_b_5719731.html&sa=D&ust=1466462132650000&usg=AFQjCNHuvtt0kEiootnDlKmC3GA8LLSJxA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">troubling record</a> of predatory practices.
Harry Alford. Alford, CEO of a group called the National Black Chamber of Commerce, is mostly known for his advocacy on behalf of controversial industries that provide funding to his group. For example, Alford has persistently <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/17/3634581/house-takes-on-smog/&sa=D&ust=1466462132652000&usg=AFQjCNHbmeIN6UlAILKH4F7_B44FQRrIsQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">argued</a> against policies to reduce global warming, while taking at least <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id%3D113&sa=D&ust=1466462132653000&usg=AFQjCNH_D0nMTOVe6kl50tdpnGzzCmFWDw" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">$1 million in donations from ExxonMobil</a>. Alford also has been a consistent defender of for-profit colleges and <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/246095-congress-needs-to-protect-students-from-gainful-employment&sa=D&ust=1466462132653000&usg=AFQjCNGZNvcFPCczA3Kh4mePjEmSJrXYKg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">critic</a> of the Obama gainful employment rule. More recently, Alford authored an <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/261062-edmc-settlements-chart-new-direction-for-private-sector&sa=D&ust=1466462132654000&usg=AFQjCNFXm8-tPggIpa18DjZslpFwMQWCug" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">opinion essay</a> in The Hill (a frequent outlet for pro-for-profit college op-eds) praising EDMC in the wake of its $200 million settlement of fraud charges brought by federal and state law enforcement. According to Alford’s op-ed, “EDMC should be commended for leading the sector in establishing greater accountability and transparency, and in doing a better job of helping students pursue the right education to enable the careers they choose and the lives they want to lead.” Alford added his own touch of transparency by accidentally leaving in his piece a parenthetical that appeared to be an instruction from a ghostwriter who had handed him the piece:<a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.republicreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/alfordnote.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15737" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.republicreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/alfordnote.png?resize=561%2C70" alt="alfordnote" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/www.republicreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/alfordnote.png?w=561&ssl=1 561w, https://i1.wp.com/www.republicreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/alfordnote.png?resize=300%2C37&ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px" width="561" height="70" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a>Sometime after this inadvertant, revealing parenthetical was publicly pointed out (including <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/dahalperin/status/671747995742969856&sa=D&ust=1466462132656000&usg=AFQjCNFzYhaVIU6tIwU3VcqxJFF18hR-KA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">by me</a>), it was deleted from the article.
Richard Powell. The Harry Alford op-ed snafu aside, EDMC has been getting some top-flight communications advice. I learned, and EDMC confirmed to me in 2014, that Teneo Holdings has been advising the company. An EDMC spokesman told me that a Teneo division called Teneo Strategy “currently serves as the company’s communications advisor. They have been working with the company since the Fall of 2012.” Teneo is a “global advisory firm” that has grown rapidly in influence. Teneo was founded and is run by Declan Kelly, Paul Keary, and Douglas Band, who served, as his bio notes, as former “President Clinton’s chief advisor from 2002 until 2012.” Richard Powell has been <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.teneoholdings.com/bios/richard-powell/&sa=D&ust=1466462132659000&usg=AFQjCNEBfSOhAu3L7mhndlPsgAiEcBpodA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">president of Teneo Strategy</a> since July 2012; he <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-powell-4318ba5&sa=D&ust=1466462132659000&usg=AFQjCNGsT_KVfpKobMzNty09-KxlwpZ1lw" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">previously</a> worked as the chief communications officer for Bloomberg LLP and as chief operating officer worldwide for the big public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.
Timothy Hatch.  EDMC’s lawyers in the fraud lawsuits against it have <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/445680/for-profit-school-co-says-us-overreaching-in-11b-fca-suit" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">included</a> <a href="http://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyers/thatch" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Timothy J. Hatch</a> of the Los Angeles office of the powerful law firm Gibson Dunn. Hatch has plenty of experience defending for-profit colleges, including <a href="http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/284/487/2562016/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">ITT Tech</a>, <a href="http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%2020150311C55/U.S.%20ex%20rel.%20Jajdelski%20v.%20Kaplan,%20Inc" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Kaplan</a>, <a href="http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%2020150818704/U.S.%20ex%20rel.%20Carter%20v.%20Bridgepoint%20Education,%20Inc." style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Bridgepoint</a>, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/education-dept-getting-fe_b_9822730.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Computer Systems Institute</a>, against fraud charges brought by whistleblowers; he also represented Ernst & Young in a <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1577336.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">whistleblower suit</a> filed against Corinthian Colleges and Ernst & Young, which served as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/business/corinthian-colleges-used-recruiting-incentives-documents-show.html?r=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Corinthian’s auditor</a>. During the George W. Bush Administration, Hatch represented Apollo / University of Phoenix in negotiations that led to the Department of Education imposing a <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2004/09/13/daily16.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">$10 million fine</a> on the company for alleged violations of the Department’s rules against paying sales commissions to recruiters, and his firm <a href="http://securities.stanford.edu/filings-documents/1032/APOL04_01/200742_r01x_04CV02147.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">represented</a> Apollo in the shareholder lawsuit that came in the wake of that matter. And Hatch <a href="http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/29j6dh1og/indiana-southern-district-court/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-v-itt-educational-services-inc/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">represents ITT</a> in the ongoing <a href="http://republicreport.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/cfpb_complaint_ITT.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">lawsuit</a>, alleging coercive lending practices, brought against it by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.In addition, Hatch and his DC-based partner at Gibson Dunn, Douglas R. Cox, <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/in-court-for-profit-colleges-demand-end-to-gainful-employment-rule_b_7347076.html&sa=D&ust=1466462132664000&usg=AFQjCNEmk0xXefwUO70VnQc_mJRDI63vlA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">represent</a> the industry trade group APSCU in their endless litigation aimed at striking down the Obama gainful employment rule, which aims to protect students from career education programs that leave graduates with overwhelming debt. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit emphatically <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/appeals-court-rejects-for_b_9409034.html&sa=D&ust=1466462132664000&usg=AFQjCNFs-zKwLfp0eGQwQJOypPyu5-Ko4A" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">rejected</a> Cox and Hatch’s arguments in March 2016, declaring, as noted above, “It would be a perverse system that, by design, wasted taxpayer money in order to impose crippling, credit-destroying debt on lower-income students and graduates”; the full coterie of judges on the appeals court rejected further review in June 2016. The Gibson Dunn website <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyers/dcox&sa=D&ust=1466462132665000&usg=AFQjCNHsnbrywM0sPfKvevMBwepDHn7a6Q" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">boasts</a> that Cox “played a principal role in the firm’s successful representation of the prevailing candidate before the Supreme Court of the United States in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board and Bush v. Gore, stemming from the 2000 presidential election….” Cox served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations in the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel.Cox and Hatch also in 2016 <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/ex-congressman-solicits-8_b_8923650.html&sa=D&ust=1466462132666000&usg=AFQjCNFaiNTUZbP3jMsXVDgjFigfq8f8Qg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">represented APSCU</a>, with additional financial support from former APSCU members DeVry and Bridgepoint, in a mostly <a class="c6" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/universal-health-services-v-united-states-ex-rel-escobar/&sa=D&ust=1466462132667000&usg=AFQjCNE372pitgR0APdh0teM2W47ClCdvg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">unsuccessful</a> effort to convince the Supreme Court to make it harder for whistleblowers to sue for fraud.Other key lawyers for EDMC in the fraud lawsuits brought against it have been Charles Moellenberg Jr., Laura Ellsworth, Thomas Jones, and Jeffrey Bresch of the <a href="http://www.jonesday.com/pittsburgh/?section=Professionals" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Pittsburgh office</a> of the big law firm Jones Day.D</div><div>==</div>