One Shoe Drops: WJU to pay $2,300,000 for grant fraud

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wheeling issued a press release on August 3, 2015, entitled Federal grant fraud claims settled with Wheeling Jesuit University.

The key provisions of the announcement are: (a) “Wheeling Jesuit University will pay the United States the sum of $2,300,000 to settle claims that it misused grant funding awarded by [NASA].” (b) “Grantees must use federal money for the purpose for which the grant was given, and for nothing else. The rules are clear.” (c) “[T]he United States was prepared to pursue” the criminal allegations against Wheeling Jesuit University if university officials did not sign the proffered agreement. (d) “The agreement does not preclude criminal charges against individuals involved in the grant fraud.”
The individuals to whom the government refers include J. Davitt McAteer and possibly other members of the then board of directors.  It is unlikely that any university employees will be indicted because they have cooperated with the federal grand jury.

The 25-page affidavit signed on 2/16/12 by a NASA Special Agent at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said WJU’s fraudulently billed expenses range from McAteer’s salary, which surged from $130,300 in 2006 to $230,659 by 2008 to cellphones, computers, and salaries for other staff including a secretary in Davitt McAteer’s Shepherdstown private law office 220 miles from the campus.

Accused homosexual predator and then board member Thomas F. (Tommy) Gleeson, S.J., will not be indicted because he died on 11/7/14.  Gleeson was one of the “Three Tricky Trustees” who illegally fired President Julio Giulietti, S.J., for no stated reason.  In October 2009, SNAP picketed against WJU because of WJU’s ongoing harboring of Gleeson.

The school’s same-day press release euphemistically states that their $2,300,000 payment will not include any “private donations.”  The truth is that all funds are fungible.  Wheeling Jesuit University has just incurred a substantial liability.

WJU has steadfastly refused to issue a public apology to President-Emeritus Julio Giulietti, S.J., who was fired when he began probing into the NASA theft, and concurrently attempted to reduce the enormous $230,659 salary of J. Davitt McAteer.

Will J. Davitt McAteer (’66) become the first WJU Hall of Honor inductee to wind up in the hoosegow?  Stay tuned.

Michael J. Fahy
Quartus

Visit to Wheeling

Recently back from business in Brussels and then another back from Columbus, OH, when I passed through Wheeling. Spent some time on campus to discover that Fr. Giulietti's portrait does not appear on the wall of the hall of "X's" leading to the president's office. Portraits of other presidents who met a similar fate as Fr. Julio's appear on the long row. I am told by a Jesuit in DC that Rev. William George was sent to rescue the college's accounts, but that he feels frustrated by the lack of any serious response by alumni or former board members to any fundraising outreach.

There is some connection here. Fr. Julio's non-appearance on the long wall of X presidents is probably one big reason even benign alumni are not interested in supporting the school. I heard many locals have switched to supporting West Liberty University's sports teams. Others to charities more local to them. Probably another reason is that many do not believe the school has any future past three years.

Rev. George, put up Fr. Julio's portrait. It just might make your life a bit less dismal.

-Larry Catraro

$19,600,000 Judgment Against Jesuit Hierarchy

Jesuits teach that our lives must promote justice.  Last week, justice taught the Jesuits a $19,600,000 lesson about covering up Jesuit sodomy.  The Jesuit hierarchy never seems to understand that openness and reform promote peace and justice much more effectively than Jesuit secrecy and cover-up.  Jesuit silence, cover-up, and stonewall secrecy too often result in lawsuits, campus raids by law enforcement officers, and multi-million-dollar settlement costs.  Where do all those Jesuit dollars come from anyway?

Last week, Jesuit officials were ordered to pay $19,600,000 for settlement of a Chicago civil lawsuit brought by six victims of Jesuit homosexual pedophile Donald McGuire.  Previously, on 2/11/9, a Chicago federal judge sentenced Jesuit Donald McGuire, then age 78, to 25 years in prison (in excess of federal sentencing guidelines) for homosexually assaulting young boys.

The $19,600,000 is not punishment for the Jesuit homosexual pedophile; rather it punishes the Jesuit hierarchy for attempting to cover-up that hideous crime by denying responsibility, avoiding accountability, manipulating the truth, and hiding behind lawyers.  The Jesuit hierarchy totally failed to embrace their student victims with compassion, care, openness, and truthfulness.  Their victims became their enemy: defiled and ostracized.

"The amount of the settlement is reflective of the magnitude of misconduct by the top Jesuit officials," said an attorney for the victims of the Jesuit hierarchy.  The 40-year-long cover-up of the ongoing homosexual attacks on young boys was concealed as a matter of high-level Jesuit policy.  Among the individual Jesuits named in the settlement are several Jesuit provincials, provincial assistants, Jesuit university presidents, Jesuit high school principals, and not one Jesuit whistle-blower!  The Jesuit vow of obedience to superior Jesuits has been corrupted and bastardized.

Chicago's Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said this is "a settlement that, by its size alone, shows that [Jesuit] officials are terrified of having to testify in open court about their complicity.... And it's a settlement that should make parents pause before sending their youngsters to Jesuit schools."

The Jesuit policy of secrecy, cover-up, and silence resulting in that $19,600,000 payout involved Jesuits at Loyola University, Marquette University, and Jesuit high schools.  But that same Jesuit modus operandi has been pervasive at Wheeling Jesuit University in recent years.

When SNAP picketed Wheeling Jesuit University's ongoing harboring of accused homosexual predator Thomas F. (Tommy) Gleeson, S.J., that WJU secret was exposed for the first time.  How did WJU respond?  WJU Interim President J. Davitt McAteer, arrogantly told the press on 10/13/9: "We at Wheeling Jesuit University, and I personally, am happy to have Father Gleeson serving as a valuable member of our Board of Trustees and Board of Directors.  We have no plans to suspend Father Gleeson, nor conduct any investigation."

WJU's Interim President considered the accused homosexual predator "a valuable member of our Board of Trustees" because Tommy Gleeson had cast the deciding vote to fire WJU President Julio Giulietti, S.J., on 8/5/9; thus allowing McAteer to appoint himself Interim President on that same day so that he could conceal and cover up his financial shenanigans questioned by the 8/3/9 NASA audit report.

In keeping with the Jesuit code of silence and secrecy, Jesuit Provincial James Shea, S.J., on 10/24/9, refused to require full disclosure of Davitt McAteer's oversight of the NASA debacle, and the cascade of ensuing events.  The Jesuit hierarchy never seems to learn that openness and reform promote peace and justice much more effectively than Jesuit secrecy and cover-up.

The dishonorable Jesuit policy of stonewall secrecy, cover-up, and silence resulted, on 2/16/12, in a massive raid by federal agents on Wheeling Jesuit University's office and McAteer's office seizing files, computers, and cellphones.  Earlier that day a NASA agent, under oath, said he believes WJU and McAteer committed multiple felonies of theft and fraud!

On 4/14/12, Vicki Smith, the tenacious writer for the Associated Press, concluded her reporting of the federal theft and fraud accusations by noting: "The school's board never publicly said why Giulietti was let go."  WJU remains silent about their reason for firing him because WJU's keep-a-lid-on-it mind-set has the same underpinnings as the high-level Jesuit policy revealed in last week's Chicago civil case.  President Julio Giulietti, S.J., was fired on 8/5/9 so that he would not probe into WJU's financial shenanigans questioned by the 8/3/9 NASA audit report.  There has been no effort by WJU to issue an apology to Fr. Julio for what WJU did to him.

As the federal investigation continues toward possible indictments, Wheeling Jesuit University continues to operate under the Sword of Damocles.

Mike Fahy
Chicago

Only two years and two months into the job, WJU's new president is replaced!

Without a search for candidates, Wheeling Jesuit University, on 3/7/13, replaced President Rick Beyer with President-elect Jim Fleming, S.J., effective 7/1/13. A search committee was not formed.

Rick Beyer's abrupt resignation and the simultaneous appointment of Jim Fleming took place as a non-agenda item at a 3/7/13 meeting of the WJU Board of Trustees. On the WJU website, Board Chairman Mimie Helm said Rick Beyer quit "in part to spend more time with his family," and that the Board's "unanimous choice for president was Fr. Fleming."

The Associated Press today released only a perfunctory story based upon the WJU website. More to come?

The Big Elephant in the corner of the room that no one talks about is William J. Ihlenfeld, II, U.S. Attorney in Wheeling, West Virginia. Plea bargaining is ongoing. Rick Beyer has not spoken publicly about the federal investigation since his 4/18/12 letter saying WJU had hired "a former United States Attorney," but did not identify him. Openness?

Five C.E.O.s in less than four years
8/5/9 fired ---- Julio Giulietti, S.J.
8/5/9 to 2/8/10 ---- J. Davitt McAteer [WJU Hall of Honor member and accused felon]
2/8/10 to 1/1/11 ---- Francis Marie Thrailkill
1/2/11 to 7/1/13 ---- Richard Allen (Rick) Beyer
7/1/13 ---- James J. (Jim) Fleming, S.J.

James J. Fleming, S.J., has been employed by WJU since 7/1/10 in the capacities of (1) President's Chief of Staff; (2) WJU Executive Vice President; and (3) Chief Officer for Mission and Identity. Berkeley educated (indoctrinated) Fleming is (or was) a member of the Catholic Worker Organization which promotes, inter alia, the Marxist notion of redistribution of wealth. Teaching Marxist redistribution of someone else's wealth seems to come easily to some Jesuits who have taken a vow of poverty.

In May of 2012 eight members of the Catholic Worker Organization, claiming to be nonviolent advocates of peace and justice, were arrested and jailed after violently storming Chicago's Prudential Building during Chicago's NATO Conference.

-Mike Fahy

Bishop Bransfield, Stay Home

I was in Brussels only to come back to Washington to discover the complaints about Bishop Bransfield are as hot as ever. The large National Catholic Reporter newspaper issued a statement of importance to the college. Why? Because it is Bransfield who is keeping the college afloat. As soon as he falls - and it is coming through a quiet investigation in Philadelphia - the college will have no more sugar daddy.

See what the newspaper printed earlier this week:

"This week, all of America's Catholic prelates are invited to the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Almost all of them will certainly show up.
Consider West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield, also accused of molestation. He should be disinvited from this week's meeting.

In April, Bransfield was accused of abuse by a man who testified about another child-molesting cleric. During that same trial, another man, also under oath, said Bransfield had a lewd conversation with him. And the prosecutor in the case disclosed that Bransfield had been accused, in a separate instance, of fondling a child years earlier.

Despite a pending criminal investigation into these allegations, Bransfield refuses to step aside during the probe.

In light of this, Bransfield should be told to stay home this week."

Larry Catraro

Animal House

Just when you thought Wheeling College could not get any worse -- another police investigation. The College's Saint Thomas More Hall is now dishonored as Animal House.

Click this morning's story in the Wheeling Intelligencer:

"WJU Menage a Trois in Student Lounge Draws a Crowd."

Chronological list of Wheeling's Sex, Crime & Dishonor after Fr. Julio's open-minded and Jesuit  based administration was slammed shut 37months ago: 

10/14/9 - WJU picketed by SNAP (Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests) because of WJU's ongoing harboring of accused homosexual predator Thomas F. (Tommy) Gleeson, S.J.

12/18/9 - Sexual harassment lawsuit filed against WJU & J. Davitt McAteer.

9/29/10 - WJU's pedophile-professor-priest, Felix Owino, convicted of aggravated sexual battery of an eleven-year-old girl.

5/14/11 - Convicted felon Milorad Blagojevich's good friend and campaign manager, David Wilhelm, awarded an honorary degree by Wheeling Jesuit University.

6/25/11 - J. Davitt McAteer inducted into WJU Hall of Honor.

2/16/12 - Federal agents raid WJU's office and V.P. McAteer's office at WJU seizing files, computers, and cellphones. NASA agent, under oath, believes WJU and McAteer committed multiple felonies!

9/27/12 - WJU's Saint Thomas More Hall dishonored as Animal House. Menage a trois in student lounge draws a crowd. Police investigate.

Where did this info come from?

Where did these facts come from? Why now?  Might the end be near?  CLICK HERE.

- Larry

NASA Special Agent believes WJU committed five federal crimes

Click here to see the affidavit of the NASA Special Agent who established probable cause for the 2/16/12 massive federal raid on Wheeling Jesuit University.

The NASA agent believes that Wheeling Jesuit University committed five federal crimes: Theft (18 U.S.C. 666); Major Fraud (18 U.S.C. 1031); Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. 371); False Claims (18 U.S.C. 287); and Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343), [¶ 6, p. 2].

The affidavit also implicates the WJU Board of Directors in criminal activity. To wit: "Documents obtained thus far also evidence knowledge and intent by the Wheeling Jesuit University Board of Directors to circumvent the [law] and improperly divert Federal Government funds for the purposes of sustaining Wheeling Jesuit University in its general, non-federal program educational areas." -- ¶ 16, p. 9.

The 25-page affidavit is followed by nine pages listing locations and items to be seized.  The identities of the two suspected perpetrators: Redacted Subject #1 is J. Davitt McAteer, Vice President of Wheeling Jesuit University; and Redacted Subject #2 is Wheeling Jesuit University.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the commentary section.

The End is Near

The incestuous relationship between Wheeling College and Bishop Michael Bransfield is over, for ever.  The funds he donated to the college were nothing other than the down payment for the property which he knows in heading toward bankruptcy.  The "Davitt" case is bad enough. But the sexual antics of "sugar daddy" is too much even for a hardened lawyer like myself to hear. Well, almost too much.

Some years ago, Bransfield is alleged to have said on the phone to the man in the Philly courtroom: "I'm going to have Stanley put you on a train and come down and see me sometime."  If this is true, then he needs to wire his resignation to Pope Benedict by COB today.

The arrogance this bishop of the RC Church had to humiliate the Sisters of the Visitation by denying them the right to sell their own property to the college.  The arrogance he had, out of jealousy, to demand Fr. Giulietti's dismissal.

What goes around comes around.  The rats are leaving the ship.

- Larry

Feds probe NASA fraud by WJU & McAteer

A Federal Grand Jury probe is focusing on NASA fraud by Wheeling Jesuit University and by WJU Vice President J. Davitt McAteer. The investigation appears to center on whether WJU diverted taxpayer dollars via fraudulent billing expenses.

Witness affidavits supporting the warrants for the 2/16/12 raid upon the WJU campus will be kept secret for another 60 days. Yesterday (4/12/12) U.S. Magistrate James E. Seibert denied McAteer's motion to have that information unsealed. Wheeling Jesuit University also argued unsuccessfully to have the witness affidavits unsealed. The U.S. Attorney expects more current and former employees of Wheeling Jesuit University to appear before his grand jury.

"The reputation of Mr. McAteer and Wheeling Jesuit University have been thrown into question by publicity surrounding the search," saith McAteer's criminal lawyer. So who is to blame for WJU's most recent bad publicity -- McAteer or the courageous whistle-blowers who are testifying before the grand jury?

On February 16, 2012, federal agents seized files from McAteer's WJU campus office, and from his home office in the eastern panhandle. Agents of NASA and other federal agencies from all over the country converged upon the campus, and simultaneously upon McAteer's eastern panhandle estate. In Wheeling, they took all the WJU files and WJU computers from the 3rd and 4th floors of the National Technology Transfer Center (one of the Byrd buildings). Then they confiscated all the private files and computers belonging to Davitt McAteer.

J. Davitt McAteer, Vice President of Wheeling Jesuit University since 2005 (and Interim-President-Emeritus), was recently inducted into WJU's Hall of Honor.

William J. Ihlenfeld, II, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling Division), recently implemented the Northern District Financial Crimes Task Force (Racket Squad).

To the Associated Press, WJU's Richard Beyer referred all questions to Michelle Rejonis who refused to discuss the matter. Well, no change there; same old stonewall still in place. The McAteer/Shea agenda of stonewalled silence and secrecy following the August 2009 firing of WJU's President Julio Giulietti, S.J., continued through multiple scandals ensuing thereafter. Now the Cardinals have come home to roost.

For more details, click these news reports from Jackson, Mississippi and from Wheeling, West Virginia, and from Blithe Spirit.

Mike Fahy
Quartus