Crime DeVos held in contempt for violating judge's order on student loans

A federal judge today held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt of court and imposed a $100,000 fine for violating an order to stop collecting on the student loans owed by students of a defunct for-profit college.

© Zach Gibson/Getty Images Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

The exceedingly rare judicial rebuke of a Cabinet secretary came after the Trump administration was forced to admit to the court earlier this year that it erroneously collected on the loans of some 16,000 Corinthian Colleges borrowers despite being ordered to stop doing so.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim wrote that “the evidence shows only minimal efforts to comply with the preliminary injunction” she issued in May 2018 ordering the Education Department to halt its collection of the loans.

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A federal judge on Thursday held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt for violating an order to stop collecting loan payments from former Corinthian Colleges students . Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the U. S . District Court in San Francisco slapped the Education Department with a 0

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim said on Monday that DeVos could face jail for flouting a court order . "I don't want to put any words in the judge ' s mouth," she said, "but I think based on the evidence, it's unquestionable that the Department of Education is in contempt of the court order .

DeVos, who is named in the lawsuit in her official capacity as secretary of Education, will not be personally responsible for paying the monetary sanctions, which will be paid by the government. The Education Department is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Kim ordered the $100,000 in monetary sanctions to be paid to the counsel of the student loan borrowers in the class-action lawsuit.

“Given that there are over 16,000 borrowers who have suffered damages from Defendants’ violation of the preliminary injunction and given that there may be some administrative expenses to remedy the harm, the Court finds the amount reasonable,” the judge wrote.

The judge said she was leaving open the possibility that if DeVos and the Education Department continue to violate her order she would “impose additional sanctions, including the appointment of a Special Master to ensure compliance with the preliminary injunction.”

The contempt finding and sanctions arose out of a suit against DeVos over her policy that provides only partial loan forgiveness to some borrowers whom the Education Department determines were defrauded by their colleges.

The judge in the case blocked DeVos from carrying out the partial loan forgiveness policy, ruling that the Education Department ran afoul of federal privacy laws in calculating the amount of relief. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit, where it remains pending.