UNC-CH billed $3M for probe finding fake classes

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — North Carolina’s flagship public university is being billed more than $3 million for the probe by outside attorneys that detailed a nearly two-decade-long scheme that used fake grades to keep some athletes eligible.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said Friday it’s been charged $3.1 million by the Washington, D.C., law firm of former U.S. Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein. His eight-month investigation found fake classes allowed more than 3,000 students to earn artificially high grades from 1993 to 2011.

About half of the students benefiting were athletes. While the sham courses were in one academic department, many people around campus knew of them or suspected something funny but did nothing.

UNC-Chapel Hill says none of the money for the Wainstein report comes from taxpayers or tuition.

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