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FREE Take one THE ES'MIRROR
Week of Sept. 29, 2010 | Vouejsss
■ fairfieldmirror.com ■
The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairfield University
TheReHectionofFairfield
Fairfield Alum Embezzles $250,000
BY Alexandria Hein
NEWS EDITOR
A Fairfield University graduate was
sentenced to 37 months in prison for
embezzling over $250,000 in campaign
contributions from former Connecticut
U.S. Representative, Christopher Shays.
Michael Sohn'98 was sentenced last
Tuesday after pleading guilty last March
to stealing the money, which among other
personal expenses, he used to pay for his
fiancee's $13,000 engagement ring. Sohn
and his fiancee Aimee Renaud, also a
former Shays staffer, were on a belated
honeymoon in the Asia-Pacific when news
of the scandal first broke.
Sohn worked as Shays' campaign
manager for over three campaigns and is
being called by sources, "like a member of
the family." Federal prosecutors said Sohn
spent the money he stole from donors on
gambling, expensive vacations and sports
tickets.
"Those people could have used the
money on diamond rings and vacations
of their own," said U.S. District Judge Mark
R. Kravitz. "Your salary of $100,000 or so
a year was a king's ransom compared to
what many people had," he added.
The sentencing comes after a nearly
two-year FBI investigation that also uncov-ered
Sohn's tax evasion.
"The sentence imposed today is
appropriate as this defendant, for four
years, violated the trust of a U.S. congress-man,
campaign coworkers, and every
contributor to the campaign," said U.S.
Attorney David B. Fein in a statement. "He
also failed to pay taxes, not only on his
criminal proceeds but also on his legiti-mate
income, including his United States
Government salary, undermining our tax
collection system that relies on accurate
and honest self-reporting," he added.
The Hartford Courant reports that
Sohn also claimed to be a serious abuser
of cocaine and marijuana from 2005-08,
the years during which he admitted to
stealing money. This claim prompted the
judge to recommend that Sohn partake in
a 500-hour drug rehabilitation program. If
this program is accepted by the Bureau of
Prisons and Sohn completes it, he will be
eligible one-year reduction of his sentence.
Sohn's claim to being a drug addict
proved to be faulty when, during a March
interview, he said that he smoked mari-juana
only when he was in college. During
a second interview in July he retracted the
statement and claimed that he was embar-rassed
of his substance abuse problem and
had lied.
He also claimed during the interview
that he smoked marijuana from 2001-09
and used cocaine from 2007-09. The court
also noted that the only people able to
support this claim were Sohn and his wife.
While at Fairfield, Sohn was president
of Kadima, the Jewish students' organiza-tion
at Fairfield University. He is quoted in
a '98 issue of "Fairfield Now" about having,
Michael Sohn's 1998 Yearbook Picture
"Parried away his first year at one college
and then gone to another, transferred to
Fairfield in his junior year." He explained,
"I'm one of those kids who had to grow up
ALUM | PAGE 5
SOPHOMORIC
SEE P. 8
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
IPSO FACTO
SEE P. 11
^cheers U Boos %
CHEERS AND BOOS IS BACK!
SEE P. 15
Object Description
| Title | Mirror - Vol. 36, No. 05 - September 29, 2010 |
| Date | September 29 2010 |
| Description | The Mirror (sometimes called the Fairfield Mirror) is the official student newspaper of Fairfield University, and is published weekly during the academic year (September - May). It runs from 1977 - the present; current issues are available online. |
| Notes | A timeline for Fairfield University student newspapers is as follows: The Tentative, Nov. 7, 1947 - Dec. 19, 1947; The Fulcrum, Jan. 9, 1948 - May 20, 1949; The Stag, Sept. 23, 1949 - May 6, 1970; The University Voice, Oct. 1, 1970 - May 11, 1977; The Fairfield Free Press & Review, Sept. 10, 1970 - Apr. 24, 1975; The Fairfield Mirror, Sept. 22, 1977 - present. |
| Type of Document | Newspaper |
| Original Format | Newsprint; color; ill.; 11.5 x 17 in. |
| Digital Specifications | These images exist as archived TIFFs, JPEGs and one or more PDF versions for general use. Digitized by Creekside Digital through the LYRASIS group. |
| Publisher | Fairfield University |
| Place of Publication | Fairfield, Conn. |
| Source | Fairfield University Archives and Special Collections |
| Copyright Information | Fairfield University reserves all rights to this resource which is provided here for educational and/or non-commercial purposes only. |
| Identifier | MIR20100929 |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| SearchData | FREE Take one THE ES'MIRROR Week of Sept. 29, 2010 | Vouejsss ■ fairfieldmirror.com ■ The Independent Student Newspaper of Fairfield University TheReHectionofFairfield Fairfield Alum Embezzles $250,000 BY Alexandria Hein NEWS EDITOR A Fairfield University graduate was sentenced to 37 months in prison for embezzling over $250,000 in campaign contributions from former Connecticut U.S. Representative, Christopher Shays. Michael Sohn'98 was sentenced last Tuesday after pleading guilty last March to stealing the money, which among other personal expenses, he used to pay for his fiancee's $13,000 engagement ring. Sohn and his fiancee Aimee Renaud, also a former Shays staffer, were on a belated honeymoon in the Asia-Pacific when news of the scandal first broke. Sohn worked as Shays' campaign manager for over three campaigns and is being called by sources, "like a member of the family." Federal prosecutors said Sohn spent the money he stole from donors on gambling, expensive vacations and sports tickets. "Those people could have used the money on diamond rings and vacations of their own," said U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz. "Your salary of $100,000 or so a year was a king's ransom compared to what many people had," he added. The sentencing comes after a nearly two-year FBI investigation that also uncov-ered Sohn's tax evasion. "The sentence imposed today is appropriate as this defendant, for four years, violated the trust of a U.S. congress-man, campaign coworkers, and every contributor to the campaign," said U.S. Attorney David B. Fein in a statement. "He also failed to pay taxes, not only on his criminal proceeds but also on his legiti-mate income, including his United States Government salary, undermining our tax collection system that relies on accurate and honest self-reporting," he added. The Hartford Courant reports that Sohn also claimed to be a serious abuser of cocaine and marijuana from 2005-08, the years during which he admitted to stealing money. This claim prompted the judge to recommend that Sohn partake in a 500-hour drug rehabilitation program. If this program is accepted by the Bureau of Prisons and Sohn completes it, he will be eligible one-year reduction of his sentence. Sohn's claim to being a drug addict proved to be faulty when, during a March interview, he said that he smoked mari-juana only when he was in college. During a second interview in July he retracted the statement and claimed that he was embar-rassed of his substance abuse problem and had lied. He also claimed during the interview that he smoked marijuana from 2001-09 and used cocaine from 2007-09. The court also noted that the only people able to support this claim were Sohn and his wife. While at Fairfield, Sohn was president of Kadima, the Jewish students' organiza-tion at Fairfield University. He is quoted in a '98 issue of "Fairfield Now" about having, Michael Sohn's 1998 Yearbook Picture "Parried away his first year at one college and then gone to another, transferred to Fairfield in his junior year." He explained, "I'm one of those kids who had to grow up ALUM | PAGE 5 SOPHOMORIC SEE P. 8 INSIDE THIS ISSUE IPSO FACTO SEE P. 11 ^cheers U Boos % CHEERS AND BOOS IS BACK! SEE P. 15 |