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WEST PALM BEACH - Florida Atlantic University's former president defended his acceptance of a red Chevrolet Corvette as a farewell gift, telling investigators a university vice president said attorneys had approved the purchase.
Anthony Catanese said former vice president Carla Coleman, who has since been charged with official misconduct, suggested that he receive a parting gift before leaving the school last summer after 12 years in charge.
He rejected having a scholarship or endowed professorship established in his honor, saying those would be too costly.
"I said, "Well, I'm going up near the space program, and all the astronauts drive Corvettes and I've always wanted a Corvette,' " Catanese told investigators during a sworn June 16 deposition.
Catanese resigned from FAU to head the private Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, which is near the Kennedy Space Center.
Catanese also said Coleman said the purchase could be seen as an "excessive benefit under the new IRS rules," so the money for the car would have to be given to his wife as a fee for her help in decorating the school's presidential mansion.
"I said, "Is this legitimate?' " Catanese said to investigators. "She says, "Yes.' She did have legal advice."
Catanese had denied receiving the car from the FAU foundation, the fundraising branch of the school, but recently returned $42,000 to its coffers. Investigators say Catanese's wife, Sara, had received $42,000 from the foundation via Stephen Lloyd Interior Design in Boca Raton, which had decorated FAU's $3-million presidential mansion.
Catanese and his wife will not be charged, investigators said. Only Coleman, who investigators say "orchestrated a plan to get the Corvette" for Catanese, has been arrested. She has declined to comment, but investigators suggested to Catanese that Coleman was placing blame on him.
University leaders launched an investigation in February, but soon asked state criminal investigators to take over the inquiry.