The College of DuPage has been subpoenaed to turn over financial records following the unveiling of top administrators’ extravagant spending on the taxpayers’ dime, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Officials at the publicly funded college reportedly ran up big tabs at the school's fine-dining restaurant to a total of more than $190,000 over the course of the past three years, the Chicago Tribune found, by expensing exuberant meals and copious amounts of pricey alcohol.
College President Robert Breuder and other senior managers hosted meals on nearly 500 occasions since 2011, the Trib reports, when the 130-seat Waterleaf restaurant opened. The college picked up the bills. One meal cost nearly $200 per person.
Former College of DuPage board chairman David Carlin said Breuder picked up the checks at several Waterleaf business meals he attended.
In January 2013, Carlin and Breuder's tab included $111 worth of alcohol, including an $80 bottle of wine. Carlin told the Tribune he thought employees couldn't expense alcohol, so he didn't realize the college paid for it.
Prosecutors will now examine the university’s spending, which a spokesperson said they are okay with.
"The college has and will fully cooperate with any government investigation," college attorney Respicio Vazquez said in a statement to the Tribune.
