Federal prosecutors have filed charges against Matteo Fontana, a former senior financial-aid official in the Education Department who in 2007 was found to be holding stock in one of the student-loan companies he oversaw, and Mr. Fontana has agreed in a plea bargain to pay a fine as high as $115,000, according to documents filed in the U.S. district court here.
Mr. Fontana, formerly manager of the Financial Partners Division of the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office, was reported in 2007 to possess at least 10,500 shares of stock, worth at least $100,000, in the Education Lending Group, the parent company of Student Loan XPress—one of the companies he was responsible for regulating. Further disclosures followed, including that he issued a controversial ruling in favor of Sallie Mae, his former employer, even though the ruling violated conflict-of-interest regulations.
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