Sanders Family Disputes Report of Escalating Burlington College Probe [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

FILE: PAUL HEINTZ
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Jane O'Meara Sanders campaign in Reno, Nev., in February 2016.

An adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) family is disputing a report that federal authorities empaneled a grand jury in connection with a long-running investigation into a 2010 land deal orchestrated by his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders.

In a story published Sunday, VTDigger.org reported that the probe had progressed to the point that federal prosecutors had convened a grand jury — a step the news outlet suggested meant the feds were seeking indictments. Authorities have spent two years investigating whether, during O'Meara Sanders' tenure as president of Burlington College, the now-defunct institution overstated pledged donations to secure a bank loan.

Former Burlington College board member Robin Lloyd told VTDigger that she testified before a grand jury last October at the federal courthouse in Burlington. She said that Paul Van de Graaf, who heads the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont, questioned her for an hour about the college's attempts to secure pledges to buy a $10 million campus.

In a statement issued to Seven Days following publication of the VTDigger story, Sanders family spokesman Jeff Weaver cast doubt on it.

FULL story: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2018/01/07/sanders-family-disputes-report-of-escalating-burlington-college-probe