A federal magistrate judge on Monday slammed Betsy DeVos‘ Department of Education for violating a federal court order after finding the federal agency is continuing to collect on the loan debt of former Corinthian Colleges students. The for-profit school went bankrupt and closed its doors in 2015.
“I’m not sending anyone to jail yet but it’s good to know I have that ability,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim told Education Dept. lawyers at a hearing in San Francisco, as Bloomberg News reports.
“I’m not sure if this is contempt or sanctions,” she added.
On Friday The Washington Post reported that despite “a court order barring the Education Department from collecting on the federal student loans of former Corinthian College students, the agency continued to pursue the debts. Some former students of the defunct for-profit college had their paychecks garnished. Others had their tax refunds seized by the federal government.”
With just one day’s notice Corinthian Colleges shuttered its doors on April 27, 2015, throwing out over 16,000 students and faculty members, amid multiple fraud investigations.
This is not the first time Secretary DeVos’s agency has been berated for refusing to follow the law over loan payments.
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