The College has agreed to pay $275,000 to settle "potential civil claims" brought by the federal government alleging improper conduct involving contracts with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., the Associated Press reported. Federal prosecutors said the six contracts in question used improper invoices and violated a law disallowing private sources for federal employees' salaries, according to the AP.
Dartmouth returned $604,000 obtained through the contracts after the anomalies came to light, according to the AP.
The College is "pleased" to have the issue resolved, according to a statement released by the Dartmouth Office of Public Affairs.
"While Dartmouth College believes it has complied with all laws and regulations concerning federal contracts, we have entered into a settlement with the government to avoid the expense, uncertainty, and distraction of any litigation," the statement read.
The College has also taken steps to ensure that other conflict-of-interest cases do not occur in the future, according to the statement.
"The College long ago adopted and conscientiously enforces a comprehensive set of policies on conflict of interest, management of grants and contracts, and professional use of research funds, among other subjects," the statement read. "Dartmouth has also recently taken steps to further strengthen its research administration system as it relates to administrating conflict of interest policies and the treatment and use of accounts for research funds."
In April, Dartmouth Medical School professor William Weeks was acquitted of five federal charges alleging conflict of interest in contracts between the College and the Department of Veterans Affairs, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Weeks a professor of psychiatry and community and family medicine who worked at the VA Medical Center was charged with a federal misdemeanor in May 2009 for conflict of interest regarding contracts between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the College. Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued during the trial that Weeks served as a representative for both parties to the contracts, allowing him to siphon approximately $1 million into a private account.
The charges against Weeks also alleged that he exploited a College policy allowing researchers to keep leftover contract money, the Valley News reported.
Officials from Dartmouth Public Affairs neither confirmed nor denied that Weeks' case is related to Monday's settlement.
U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin, head of the United States Attorney's Office in the District of Vermont, said "there are several civil suits pending," but did not offer further details at the time of Weeks's acquittal, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Weeks filed a civil suit against the prosecution, alleging that prosecutors illegally searched his office at the VA Medical Center and inappropriately shared information about the pending charges against him with his superiors, The Dartmouth previously reported.
