On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Miguel Cardona reached a landmark settlement in the class action lawsuit Sweet v. Cardona (originally filed as Sweet v. DeVos), agreeing to automatically cancel approximately $6 billion in federal student loans for roughly 200,000 …
U.S. District Court for Northern CaliforniaU.S. Department of EducationMiguel CardonaBetsy DeVosProject on Predatory Student Lending+1 morefor-profit-educationstudent-debt-cancellationborrower-defenseclass-action-settlementfraud-relief+1 more
President Trump pardoned four Blackwater private military contractors convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard were serving sentences ranging from 12 years to life …
Donald TrumpErik PrinceBetsy DeVosNicholas SlattenPaul Slough+2 morepardonscorruptionwar-crimesblackwaterabuse-of-power+1 more
The New York Times published a detailed investigation revealing that Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, recruited former American and British intelligence officers to conduct domestic espionage operations targeting Democratic political campaigns and …
Erik PrinceRichard SeddonJames O'KeefeProject VeritasBetsy DeVos+2 morepolitical-espionageinstitutional-captureprivate-intelligencepolitical-surveillanceabuse-of-power
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in civil contempt of court on October 24, 2019, for violating a preliminary injunction barring the Department of Education from collecting on loans from 16,000 former Corinthian Colleges students and fined the Department $100,000. …
Betsy DeVosSallie KimDepartment of Educationcontempt-of-courtbetsy-devosstudent-debtcorinthian-collegesrule-of-law
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos formally repealed the Obama Administration’s Gainful Employment Rule on July 1, 2019, eliminating the only federal accountability mechanism that measured whether career training programs at for-profit colleges and non-degree programs at all institutions …
Betsy DeVosU.S. Department of EducationRobert EitelJulian Schmoke Jr.For-Profit College Industry+1 morefor-profit-educationderegulationregulatory-capturerevolving-doorstudent-debt+2 more
On December 21, 2017, Secretary Betsy DeVos announced a radical departure from Obama administration policy by implementing an earnings-based formula for Corinthian Colleges debt relief that denied full forgiveness to fraud victims and calculated partial relief based on post-graduation earnings. …
Betsy DeVosDepartment of Educationstudent-debtregulatory-capturebetsy-devoscorinthian-colleges
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos systematically blocked debt relief for over 200,000 students defrauded by for-profit colleges, overruling internal Education Department career staff who had recommended full loan forgiveness. Internal memos from the department’s Borrower Defense Unit dated …
Betsy DeVosU.S. Department of EducationCorinthian CollegesITT Technical Instituteregulatory-capturepredatory-lendingeducationstudent-debtconsumer-protection+1 more
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on June 14, 2017, that she would delay implementation of Obama-era “borrower defense to repayment” regulations scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2017—rules designed to help students defrauded by predatory colleges like Corinthian and ITT Tech …
Vice President Mike Pence cast a historic tie-breaking vote on February 7, 2017, to confirm Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary—the first time in American history that a vice president’s tie-breaking power was used to confirm a Cabinet nominee. The Senate vote split exactly 50-50, with two …