{"id":1712181,"date":"2022-10-26T14:48:49","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T18:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1712181"},"modified":"2022-10-26T14:48:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T18:48:55","slug":"prominent-title-ix-consultant-accused-of-financial-fraud-in-lawsuit-filed-by-former-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prominent-title-ix-consultant-accused-of-financial-fraud-in-lawsuit-filed-by-former-employee\/","title":{"rendered":"Prominent Title IX Consultant Accused Of Financial Fraud In Lawsuit Filed By Former Employee"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fprominent-title-ix-consultant-accused-of-financial-fraud-in-lawsuit-filed-by-former-employee%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1712181&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A man who made millions consulting with schools on how to implement Title IX policies has been accused of financial fraud by a former employee.<\/p>\n<p>Brett A. Sokolow, president of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) and founder and chair of the board at TNG, is being sued by a former executive for allegedly committing tax fraud, breach of contract, and retaliation, The Chronicle of Higher Education <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/prominent-higher-ed-consultant-committed-financial-fraud-lawsuit-says\">reported<\/a>. The former employee, Martha Kopacz, served as TNG\u2019s chief executive office until she was fired last month.<\/p>\n<p>Kopacz says in her lawsuit, obtained by the Chronicle, that she was fired for reporting and objecting to multiple instances of Sokolow using company funds for personal purposes and defrauding clients. She insists in her lawsuit that she qualifies for whistleblower protection for reporting financial wrongdoing at a company that received public funds.<\/p>\n<p>Kopacz <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collegeprofessor.com\/university-news\/prominent-higher-ed-consultant-committed-financial-fraud-lawsuit-says\/\">alleges<\/a> in her lawsuit that Sokolow committed what is known as \u201cghost billing fraud,\u201d charging TNG clients Sokolow\u2019s $700 an hour consulting fee when other consultants \u2013 who charged between $250 to $350 an hour \u2013 were actually doing the work. Kopacz also alleges that Sokolow fraudulently labeled $3 million of income as a business loan to avoid paying taxes on it, saying she reported the issue to Sokolow but that he \u201cwould not listen\u201d and refused to recategorize the money.<\/p>\n<p>Further, Kopacz alleges that Sokolow listed numerous personal expenses as business expenses, including his country club membership, DoorDash orders, and cars for himself and his wife, including $40,000 to help pay for a Lamborghini.<\/p>\n<p>Kopacz says she was fired after reporting these issues.<\/p>\n<p>In an email to members, Sokolow denied any wrong doing and said Kopacz is \u201ctrying to embarrass us,\u201d referring to ATIXA, which is managed by TNG Consulting, LLC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery organization has personnel challenges, and now ours are being made public,\u201d Sokolow wrote. \u201cIn response to Marti\u2019s allegations, I will simply share with you that TNG is subject to a rigorous external audit every single year, by BakerTilly. TNG has been given clear audits every single year, which should shed considerable light on the validity of Marti\u2019s claims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sokolow added that the reasons for Kopacz\u2019s firing \u201cwill become clear once we file our defense to the suit,\u201d and emphasized that her claims are related only to TNG and not ATIXA.<\/p>\n<p>Sokolow has been one of the most prominent voices over the past decade when it comes to how schools handle accusations of sexual assault. His organization\u2019s consulting and policy proposals have generally been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/atixa-offers-new-due-process-track-at-1499-title-ix-training-course-fire-still-offers-due-process-guidance-for-free\/\">unfriendly<\/a> toward the due process rights of accused students, even as <a href=\"https:\/\/nyujlpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Harris-Johnson-Campus-Courts-in-Court-22-nyujlpp-49.pdf\">hundreds<\/a> of lawsuits have been filed against schools from accused students with compelling claims that they were railroaded by colleges determined to find them responsible regardless of the evidence.<\/p>\n<p>There have been few attempts by Sokolow or ATIXA to address the due process rights of accused students, even though Sokolow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/how-do-you-tell-someone-theyre-not-a-victim\">admitted in 2015<\/a> that not everyone who believes they are a victim really is one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see complainants who genuinely believe they have been assaulted, despite overwhelming proof that it did not happen,\u201d Sokolow wrote in a letter that year.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, ATIXA released a statement meant to guide schools \u201con the consideration of pattern evidence in sexual misconduct investigations and resolutions,\u201d but used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/title-ix-group-uses-debunked-study-recent-position-ashe-schow\">a thoroughly debunked<\/a> study to claim that \u201ca select few individuals account for the majority of campus sexual assaults, with many of these individuals committing multiple acts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, ATIXA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/junk-science-behind-trauma-informed-investigations-ashe-schow\">gently pushed back<\/a> against trauma-informed investigations that assume an accuser is traumatized from the start and conduct the investigation to prove their claims rather than seeking the truth, whatever it may be.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone in the field is on the trauma learning curve and needs to be cautious about making premature conclusions. Practitioners must wait for this body of knowledge to mature and ripen,\u201d the organization wrote. \u201cPerhaps the effective tools of truly understanding what causes trauma and what its effects are have not been invented yet. Regardless, for now, the aim should be to implement reputable trauma-informed investigation and interviewing practices and techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sokolow is not without disagreement from those who side with him on policy, either. In 2014, Buzzfeed News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/katiejmbaker\/meet-the-sexual-assault-adviser-top-us-colleges-have-on-spee\">quoted<\/a> a student saying \u201cI have watched Brett Sokolow profit from sexual violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man who made millions consulting with schools on how to implement Title IX policies has been accused of financial fraud by a former employee. Brett A. Sokolow, president of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) and founder and chair of the board at TNG, is being sued by a former executive for allegedly &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1712184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1712181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1712181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1712184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1712181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1712181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1712181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}