Parent Pleads Guilty of Defrauding College of Financial Aid

Joseph N. Fonge pleaded guilty last Wednesday to three counts of wire fraud after inaccurately reporting financial information to the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid between 2010 and 2013.

Joseph N. Fonge and his wife Barbara E. Fonge reported false income figures to the University to defraud the College of financial aid funding for their child, who graduated from the College in 2013, according to a criminal complaint filed on June 27.

Financial aid applicants submit the federal FAFSA form to determine eligibility for federal aid and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE for purposes of calculating institutional aid. The College also uses IDOC, an information service operated by the College Board that collects financial information, such as federal income tax returns, and electronically provides colleges with such forms.

“Joseph N. Fonge and Barbara E. Fonge caused false and fraudulent financial information to be submitted to FAFSA and IDOC, by, among other things, underreporting their wages, income, sources of income, and adjusted gross income reported on their federal income tax returns,” U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Assistant U.S. Attorney Victoria A. Wild wrote in the complaint.

The Fonge family received over $50,000 in annual financial aid for two years until 2012, when the “scheme to defraud was discovered by Harvard College,” according to the June complaint.

Former Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson Colin Manning previously told The Crimson that the Admissions Office takes questions of fraud seriously and works “to make sure all financial aid is awarded and disbursed appropriately.” Current FAS spokesperson Anna Cowenhoven declined to provide an updated comment this weekend on the Fonge case or on the frequency of suspected financial aid fraud.

Barbara and Joseph Fonge could not be reached for comment.

—Staff writer Theodore R. Delwiche can be reached at theodore.delwiche@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @trdelwic.