Posted Sept. 16 at 3:30 p.m.
The following is the complete text of one of the anonymous letters received by members of the Board of Trustees, Student Government and the Washington Post. An AU source, who chose not to be identified due to the source's proximity to the investigation, confirmed the letter. Original capitalization and punctuation have been maintained.
Dear Sir,
Dr. Ben Ladner, President of American University, is under investigation by the Board of Trustees of the University for SEVERE expense account violations. The expenses Dr. and Mrs. Ladner have charged to the University over the past five years include their son's engagement party, lavish presents for their children, a personal French chef, Rodney Scruggs, the use of his family and his wife who is a pastry chef at a prestigious restaurant in Washington, long weekends in Europe for pleasure, maintenance of their personal residence in Maryland including garbage bads, daily wine for lunch and dinner at $50 to $100 per bottle, etc. The list goes on and on.
This expense account makes the former President of United Way look innocent. This needs to be made public because he may get away with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from American University. The IRS should be informed. The Board of Trustees should file CRIMINAL charges against him.
Please investigate. Thank you.
An employee
