New York University has retained a top D.C. lawyer to field inquiries over the school's mortgage-loan program for faculty and executives that included Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, the New York Post reports:
The hiring of Steve Ryan comes after the Greenwich Village university became a focus of congressional inquiry during the confirmation hearing of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a former NYU executive.
Questions were raised after details of Lew’s $1.4 million loan from NYU were revealed by The Post and aspects of his compensation package emerged.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, is pushing NYU to release information on below-market loans, severance and other perks it provided top staffers and asking the school to reveal recipients of mortgage loans and severance pay.
Lew, the former executive vice president of NYU, also enjoyed a $685,000 severance package from the school.
Grassley last month wrote a letter to the school asking questions about whether NYU is abusing its tax-exempt status to "compensate university administrators."
Ryan, a lawyer at the firm McDermott Will & Emery, has also been retained by Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) during the Senate Ethics Committee's review of his relationship with a controversial donor, according to the Post.
Menendez reimbursed Dr. Salomon Melgen, a major donor to his political efforts, $60,000 in January for flights he took on Melgen's jet.
Melgen is currently under federal investigation for Medicare fraud.