The university's former top fundraising official allegedly diverted $42,000 to buy a Corvette for the outgoing president.
By Associated Press
Published July 1, 2003
WEST PALM BEACH - A former administrator at Florida Atlantic University was arrested Monday on charges that she arranged for the school's outgoing president to receive a $42,000 gift to buy a Chevrolet Corvette.
Carla Coleman, who led FAU's fundraising foundation, turned herself in to the Palm Beach County Jail and was charged with a felony of official misconduct, said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agent Mike Driscoll. Driscoll said the agency's investigation found that Coleman "orchestrated a plan to get the Corvette" for former president Anthony Catanese.
Catanese, who now heads the private Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, recently returned $42,000 to FAU as prosecutors neared a decision on whether to file charges in the case. He will not be charged, Driscoll said.
Motor vehicle records show Catanese bought a red 2002 Corvette from a dealer in Coconut Creek on July 24, 2002, three weeks after he left FAU. He had denied getting the car from the FAU Foundation.
Investigators say the money to buy the Corvette was funneled through Stephen Lloyd Interior Design in Boca Raton, which had decorated FAU's $3-million presidential mansion.
Two weeks before Catanese bought the Corvette, Coleman sent an invoice to the firm on behalf of Catanese's wife, Sara, for $42,000 for "services rendered."
Stephen Lloyd and his wife, Rita, signed an agreement with prosecutors and provided "substantial information and testimony" in the case, said Mike Edmondson. They will not be charged if they meet conditions set by prosecutors, he said.
University leaders launched an investigation into the matter in February, temporarily locking employees out of their offices. The university soon asked state criminal investigators to take over the probe.
Coleman resigned from FAU last month. A call to her attorney, Kenneth Lipman, was not immediately returned.
