November 18, 2002 -- Walking the grounds of Seton Hall University is a lesson in ethics - one that school administrators hadn't planned on.
Mixed in among the buildings named for saints on the South Orange, N.J., campus are three impressive structures named for sinners - or accused sinners: Robert E. Brennan, Dennis Kozlowski and Frank Walsh Jr.
I wonder what ethics and values they are teaching in those classrooms? Maybe the school should give the money back and why aren't the buildings named after saints?
Do you honestly believe that kind of money is just given without some reciprocation?
Not at any univeristy I know, Catholic or otherwise.
Seton Hall stopped being Catholic a long time ago. My wife went to their law school and she didn't have one pro-life professor.
-- Brennan was one of the leading lights of the anti-gun movement some years ago--one of his reasons being his brother's death in a "gun accident"--consisting of resisting arrest by New Jersey police with fatal results, if I remember correctly--
If a bunch of crooks want to give some of their money to a useful charity, it's OK with me. It has nothing to do with Seton Hall's betrayal of its Catholic heritage, which I agree is deplorable.
So, crime runs in the family. You have to kind of stupid to fight with anyone pointing a gun at you. What's it take, less than 3 pounds of pressure to pull a trigger?
The bad press about this University never ends and President Sheeran keeps his head planted deep in the sand.
Do you castigate Mother Theresa for taking money from 'tainted' sources so she could further her charitable work?
Thanks for those links. Something to think about if one were going to donate to Seton University.
Personally, I would suggest a Catholic Caucus FReep of the president and Board of Regents.
Where are their Catholic values?
I'm not concerned about Catholic universities accepting money from people who are subsequently found quilty of a crime. Heck, where do you think public universities get their money? My concern is that Catholic universities have succumed to political correctness and don't stand for Catholic education anymore. Catholic universities - including my alma mater - have become bastions of the liberal agenda WITHOUT providing the opportunity or atmosphere of contrary thought. I don't send them any more money and regret sending one of my daughters. Fortunately, she was raised to "voice her opinion" and did get into trouble with some teachers when she didn't agree with their "point of view". She is now more aware of the evils of liberalism than she would otherwise have been.
She is now more aware of the evils of liberalism than she would otherwise have been.>>>
I'm glad some good came out of it, lessons well learned.
What was the college and why aren't they being exposed?
Let the cardinal newman society and the Free Republic know of the examples.
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/
>>I'm not concerned about Catholic universities accepting money from people who are subsequently found quilty of a crime.>>
Yes, I know, it isn't earth-shattering news, however, when compounded witht the other events I posted and not posted, i.e. Having Catholic Pro Abortion Gov. James E. McSleazy speak at Cheaton Hall on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, while all of "us" were in DC. Well, thanks to the net we put a stop to that fast.
And, Honoring Kofi Annan, abortionist and population-control advocate. There are some of many examples of the anti-Catholic events supported and endorsed by Seton Hall.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1040368423191710.xml
Brennan likely to get three more years in prison
Inmate fails to convince judge he's sorry for using frozen assets as legal fees
Friday, December 20, 2002
BY DAVID SCHWAB
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW YORK -- Saying he did not buy Robert Brennan's claims of remorse, a federal judge said yesterday he was prepared to sentence the imprisoned financier to an additional three years behind bars for dipping into frozen assets to pay his lawyer.
"I hear the words, Mr. Brennan," U.S. District Judge Richard Owen said at the end of a hearing in which Brennan pleaded for leniency. "I really don't see any remorse."
Owen did not immediately impose the sentence, allowing the former multimillionaire's public defender to make a limited appeal by next month. Attorneys said they expected Brennan to be sentenced in February.
Brennan, 58, a New Jersey stock promoter who authorities say built an empire of wealth through fraud, already is serving a nine-year term in the federal prison at Fort Dix after his conviction last year on money laundering and bankruptcy fraud charges.
Prosecutors contended Brennan, who had declared bankruptcy in 1995, hid $4 million in bonds and $525,000 in casino chips from creditors who were owed $175 million.
Yesterday's hearing in Manhattan stemmed from an additional case against the financier, who pleaded guilty in August to criminal contempt for dipping into his frozen assets. Authorities said Brennan transferred $500,000 from a gambling cruise ship he partly owned to the account of his defense lawyer, Michael Critchley. There is no allegation of wrongdoing by Critchley.
Under the plea agreement, Brennan could have received a sentence of eight to 14 months, which could have run concurrent with his original sentence.
But Owen said Brennan should receive a stiffer sanction because the actions to which he pleaded guilty amounted to theft and because of his history of similar wrongdoing. The judge said the pattern included five "fines, suspensions or censures" since 1995.
Given "today's questionable corporate executive climate, I certainly do not want to say to the public this kind of conduct does not deserve punishment," the judge said.
Earlier in the hearing, Brennan, dressed in prison-issue khaki-colored shirt and pants, rose in his own defense. He said a single phrase summed up his condition since deciding to plead guilty: "I surrender."
"I accept responsibility," he said of his plea, "for not doing things as they should be done."
He said he had written the judge to express his "unqualified remorse" in a "letter written from my heart while sitting in my prison cell."
He added: "Your honor, I seek closure, not money or assets."
Brennan said he has heard "innuendo and whispers" that he continues to harbor hidden assets, a claim he denies. He said he would do "whatever anyone likes" to sign away claims to any of these "mysterious" assets.
"I want it crystal clear: I do not want them," he said, adding, "I seek to bring closure to this matter ... so I can earn the opportunity to redeem myself."
Brennan also said he would like to enroll in the federal Bureau of Prisons' alcohol and drug abuse program, a surprising request in that he has not previously contended that substance abuse played some role in his illegal behavior.
Despite his contrite comments, Brennan objected to the judge's interpretation of his plea agreement, suggesting Owen was wrong to characterize the removal of frozen assets as a theft. Brennan also contends the judge placed too much emphasis on prior acts that have nothing to do with the plea agreement.
Brennan termed the treatment a "violation of constitutional principles."
In calling for a reduced sentence, Mark Gombiner, Brennan's defense lawyer, called his client "impoverished" and in "ill health" and said Brennan already was serving "the largest sentence for bank fraud."
"About all he has left is the love of his friends and family," the lawyer said.
He noted Brennan won't leave prison until he is 65 or 66 and that he is the target of huge financial judgments he can't pay.
"We don't believe in piling on," he told the judge.
The threat of increased jail time marks an even farther fall for Brennan, who once rubbed shoulders with some of the richest and most famous people in the world.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Brennan reaped a fortune peddling stock as the founder and president of First Jersey Securities. "Come grow with us," he urged in the firm's ubiquitous television commercials.
He presided over a far-flung web of assets from his 221-acre Colts Neck horse farm, on which he installed a paradisiacal golf course at an estimated cost of $41 million.
In Brennan's office on the property stood photos of the financier with an array of dignitaries, from former President George Bush, then vice president, to Pope John Paul II.
The source of Brennan's wealth became the focus of numerous investigations over two decades. But it wasn't until Brennan's conviction in April 2001 that prosecutors were able to make any criminal charges stick.
Through it all, he was considered a generous philanthropist, donating to dozens of causes, among them his college alma mater, Seton Hall University.
In return for Brennan's generosity, the school placed his name on its recreation center. Even that came to an end. In light of Brennan's convictions, the school removed his name last week.
Staff writer Mark Mueller contributed to this report.