It seems strange that Stanford pretends that it has no interest in the facts that Professor Cohen both donated to them fraudulent IP and used that IP to defraud investors of $20M.

Now that Cohen has been convicted of "a species of actual fraud and a form of deceit" in a civil proceeding, it seems reasonable that Stanford should decide if it is in the best interests of the Stanford community that he continues to work and teach there.

If this story interests you, there's a more complete story about it from Dec. 21 in The Stanford Daily, written by Theo Baker, the same undergrad (freshman I've been told) who broke the story only some problems with some of President Tessier-Lavigne's articles from 15-25 yrs ago. Seems like someone with an aptitude for journalism!

Web Link

Stanford is "unaware of the lawsuit" -- should somebody call them to let them know that someone who has never taught there nor studied there is using a parcel of land as collateral while awaiting trial for billion$ of fraud?

Not a good year at all for Stanford reputationally. In fact, not a good decade.

Elizabeth Holmes, Brock Turner, Katie Meyer, John Vandemoer, Yusi Chao, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, SBF, the covid vaccine for administrators uproar, the banned words list.

And now this. Granted, some of these scandals were perpetrated by individual actors barely associated with the University. But the average Joe-on-the-street who just reads headlines doesn't get that.

Over the past decade, Stanford had proven itself to truly be the collegiate powerhouse of [ahem] cardinal white collar sin.

"A spokesperson for Stanford University said the university was unaware of the lawsuit and Cohen's work with Nuredis was outside his scope of responsibilities to the university.

"We understand from the court's decision in this case that Nuredis tried to sell its (intellectual property) and, when unsuccessful, donated it to Stanford," university spokesperson Luisa Rapport said in a statement. "Stanford has not further developed nor licensed or commercialized the donated IP."

A donation to US?? What a surprise. Do you think we should check our charitable contributions and endowments? Good thing the courts told us! Hah.

As credible as their claim that for the last 20 years they've had "no net new car trips" while they continue their huge expansions, hire lots more people and buy up PA housing for them. SO many Stanford miracles these days.

@Hank Thanks for the pointer to the Stanford Daily. The online version reminded me an omission from my list-- Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda. First story in the Dec 28th issue.

Stanford's new official motto: "Der Wind der Wirtschaftskriminalität weht"

They need to crack down on white collar fraud. Sending these criminals to country club prisons is hardly a deterrent. Let them serve time with hardened criminals, and maybe the fear of wall-to-wall gang members and "don't drop the soap" might deter a few.

Cohen's fraud may have been perpetrated outside the boundaries of his Stanford duties, but it is still fraud and he still is employed by the university. That demonstrates a focus on situational ethics that speaks poorly of the school's administration.