Conn. Says Ex-Wesleyan U. Investment Chief Misused Endowment

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is accusing Wesleyan University’s former investment director of billing the school for personal and business expenses, reports the Associated Press.

Mr. Blumenthal, a candidate for Senate in the fall election, said he will file suit against Thomas Kannam to recover money allegedly diverted from Wesleyan’s charitable assets. The attorney general said Mr. Kannam used Wesleyan employees and resources to provide research and services for private companies with which he worked and billed the school for travel that primarily benefited the firms.

The university fired Mr. Kannam last year and has also filed suit against him. Mr. Kannam’s lawyer, Stephen Fitzgerald, says his client’s contract with Wesleyan allowed him to do outside work, and he blasted Mr. Blumenthal’s planned lawsuit as a waste of taxpayer funds.

(Free registration is required to view this article on the Washington Post site.)