Feds launch probe of Stanford, Fordham over alleged undisclosed gifts from China

[PeteS in CA]

https://campusreform.org/?ID=15452

Feds launch probe of Stanford, Fordham over alleged undisclosed gifts from China

The U.S. Department of Education has officially opened federal investigations into Fordham University and Stanford University.

The investigations are focused specifically on examining the universities’ disclosure of receipts of gifts from foreign countries, including China. In a letter notifying Fordham of the investigation, the Department of Education referenced the university’s “extensive presence abroad, much of which it appears to facilitate through its School of Business’s Global Finance Collaboration Program.”
...
A similar letter was also sent to Stanford University, citing the university’s “extensive business interests in and very deep entanglements with the PRC.” Previous reports have shown that “Stanford has reported more than $64 million in unidentified, anonymous gifts and contracts from and with the PRC since May 2010.”

The Department of Education says it is concerned about further potential gifts and contracts that may not have been formally reported.

This is part of an investigation that has been publicly known for months. Why Fordham and Stanford didn't figure out that coming forward of their own accord and taking whatever lumps they had coming would be easier and cheaper than stonewalling and trying to defend the indefensible is something I don't understand.