Mcateer, Wju under Fire: Probe Reportedly Focuses on Diversion of Fed Funds

The Intelligencer
April 14, 2012

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/568571/McAteer--WJU-Under-Fire--Probe-R---.html

WHEELING - A federal investigation into J. Davitt McAteer and Wheeling Jesuit University appears to center on whether the university illegally diverted federal funds between 2005 and 2011 by fraudulently billing expenses to grant programs or cooperative agreements, court documents indicate. U.S. Magistrate James E. Seibert on Thursday extended the government's request to keep search warrants, affidavits and other information supporting those warrants sealed for another 60 days.

But motions by both parties on whether to unseal them reveal information about the focus of the probe.

They show that NASA, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General and other agencies seized documents from McAteer's offices in Wheeling and Shepherdstown on Feb. 16. McAteer, an attorney and former head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, runs the university's Office of Sponsored Programs.


Investigators seized, copied and then returned records of expenses billed to federal programs and other records indicating how Wheeling Jesuit handled certain kinds of expenses through its Combined Cost Management Service Center.

The motions also say investigators are looking at current and former employees of Wheeling Jesuit, and some are expected to appear before a grand jury.

"We continue to cooperate with federal investigators," WJU spokeswoman Michelle Rejonis said. "As information becomes available to us, we will gather information and work from there."

Rejonis has said the investigation does not affect Pell Grants or other federal assistance to students.

McAteer's attorneys want the investigation documents unsealed. They claim McAteer has never been told what federal law he's suspected of violating and has no "meaningful information about why his property and client files were taken."

Attorney Stephen Jory said the government's refusal to share information in the affidavit "has already caused the loss of considerable time to the defense and potentially irreparable harm."

"The reputations of Mr. McAteer and Wheeling Jesuit University have been thrown into question by publicity surrounding the search of both Mr. McAteer's law office and the Office of Sponsored Programs at the university," Jory said.

"It is extraordinarily unfair," he said, "and indeed, a violation of Mr. McAteer's Fourth Amendment rights, for the government to continue to keep the affidavit under seal when the search has already served to prompt the appearance of impropriety."

Wheeling Jesuit also argued the government's refusal to unseal the documents "prevents it from fulfilling its compliance responsibilities." The university also said that if problems exist, "it must be able to take necessary corrective action, if any be required, so that its sponsored research and other programs are not adversely affected, for example by an inability to refinance its bond or through lowered enrollment and charitable giving."

U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld, however, argues that while the press and the public have a right to judicial documents, sealing them in this case protects the integrity of the investigation. Secrecy now, he said, ensures that testimony is protected until all witnesses and subjects of the probe have either been interviewed or testified before a grand jury.

McAteer, a graduate of Wheeling Jesuit, has been a vice president since 2005.