By Adrianna Rodriguez
USA TODAY
A former university professor in Philadelphia spent tens of thousands of dollars in federal money for local strip clubs and sports bars over a 10-year period, the Justice Department says.
Dr. Chikaodinaka D. Nwankpa misused $189,062 of government grants from July 2007 through April 2017 while working at Drexel University, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The university has agreed to pay back the money to resolve its potential civil liability in the case. Drexel said Tuesday in a statement to USA TODAY that it takes “allegations of unethical or unlawful business conduct … very seriously.”
The government’s investigation began in 2017 after Drexel voluntarily disclosed fraudulent charges to eight federal grants that it received from the Navy, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.
