Robert Tunnell Jr. '61, a former San Francisco attorney, was charged on Thursday for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded friends and relatives of $7 million over a period of more than five years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Tunnell, who was arrested last month, was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of mail fraud, 13 counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Tunnell allegedly promised investors that he would invest their money conservatively, portraying himself as an experienced, talented investor, according to the Chronicle. Tunnell then used the money in risky trades, losing $7 million of the $10 million that investors had given him while using the remaining money to pay off other investors. He also allegedly gave false reports to his investors and faked documents that greatly exaggerated his net worth. Tunnell had previously resigned from the bar in California due to pending charges that he had stolen $300,000 from his law firm for private use, the Chronicle reported.
As state governments slashed budgets across the country, state spending on need-based financial aid rose by nearly 4 percent during the 2009-2010 school year, Inside Higher Ed reported. A study by the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs released on Monday found that state governments spent $10.8 billion on all types of student aid including need-based grants, non-need-based grants and non-grant aid up from $10.4 billion the previous year. State spending on need-based aid grew at a faster pace than other types of aid, a reversal of past years' trends, Inside Higher Ed reported.
The federal government awarded a $13 million grant to the state of New Hampshire to help small businesses hire more people and increase access to credit, the Union Leader reported. The funding, which was granted under the State Small Business Credit Initiative as part of last September's Small Business Jobs Act, will allow the state to leverage $130 million in credit for small businesses to expand and create more jobs. When announcing the new program, Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., said that accessing credit is still difficult for many small businesses. Sen.Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the committee that helped create the grant program, wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner '83 asking him to approve New Hampshire's bid for the grant, according to the Union Leader. The state Business Finance Authority will oversee the implementation of the program, the Union Leader reported.
