Catherine Cortez Masto (D)
CARSON CITY, Nev. (Legal Newsline) - Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is investigating allegations by several plaintiffs suing the University of Nevada, Reno.
Several plaintiffs met with Masto in April to discuss allegations against the school and university officials that include fraud, perjury, embezzlement and obstruction of justice and perjury, the Reno (Nev.) Gazette Journal reported Sunday.
Among those who met with the Democratic attorney general were UNR geology professor Rich Schweickert, former UNR animal science professor Hussein S. Hussein and UNR police sergeant Lane Grow.
They reportedly left Masto with a 94-page summary of allegations and thousands of pages of exhibits.
Wayne Fazzino, an investigator for the Attorney General's office, has been on campus gathering documents and talking to people for more than a month, Schweickert and Hussein told the newspaper.
Since 2000, the university or its employees have faced more than 74 civil rights, discrimination, wrongful termination or defamation lawsuits, court records show.
The university has so far spent $932,687 of its own funds on two Reno law firms to assist UNR's in-house lawyers in defending four of the lawsuits.
The State Board of Examiners has paid an additional $785,625 from the State Contingency Fund to pay the outside counsel.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.