FBI Arrests Law Student On Counts of Loan Fraud

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, on the basis of information supplied by the University, yesterday arrested a second-year Law School student for allegedly making false statements in applying for federally-insured loans.

The student, Spiro M. Pavlovich III, faces criminal charges for "willfully misrepresenting" his identity in 1973, 1974, and 1975 in securing amounts totalling $6,000 in federally-insured loans, Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said yesterday.

Pavlovich, now enrolled in Harvard's joint Law-Business program, is charged with having falsely identified himself as Jonas C. Cord and having falsely concealed that he owed the University more than $9,000 in debts, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said Pavlovich incurred the debts from 1968 to 1971 while he attended both the Law School and the Business School.

Pavlovich's arrest yesterday followed a complaint filed Monday by the University with the FBI.

Homans Appointed

After his arrest, Pavlovich was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Peter Princi who appointed William P. Homans Jr. '41 as defense counsel, and set bail at $10,000 which remained unposted as of last night.

Pavlovich will again appear before the court on December 17 for a probable cause hearing.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said yesterday that Pavlovich faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each of the three counts.

Steiner confirmed that the "situation that led to the arrest was brought to the attention of law enforcement authorities by the University."

"Under the circumstances of the situation, we thought it was the appropriate thing to do," Steiner said.

He declined, however, to elaborate what led to the University's decision in the case "since there are criminal charges pending."

The Pavlovich incident is "the first case in which a Harvard student has been charged with falsifying information on his loan application since Harvard began to participate in the federally-insured loan program," Steiner said.

There have been cases in the past, Harvard officials said yesterday, of Harvard students misrepresenting information while seeking financial aid from the University.

Peter S. McKinney, administrative dean of the Graduate school of Arts and Sciences, said last night that "in the last three years, there have been two cases [of misrepresentation] known in the GSAS."