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The former student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- who is still taking on for-profit colleges from his new perch -- sent a letter to ITT Educational Services investors Wednesday asking them to reform the for-profit institution.
Rohit Chopra, now a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, wrote, "I have serious concerns that ITT is not properly managed. Unless investors provide more vigorous oversight over management and the board, ITT will continue to harm both its students and its shareholders."
ITT is facing lawsuits from state and federal agencies for allegedly guiding students to predatory loans and lying to investors about high default rates on those loans. The company has been compared to Corinthian Colleges.
In response to the letter, Nicole Elam, ITT's vice president of government relations and external affairs, criticized Chopra's view as endemic of Washington's bias against the for-profit industry.
"The fact that he would write such a letter to investors days after leaving the [CFPB] trumpeting mere allegations against the company demonstrates a personal bias against our institutions and an unwillingness to allow for due process to work -- the cornerstone of the U.S. legal system," Elam said in a news release. "Allegations are not facts and we think our investors will not take action based on simple assertions from someone with an ideological ax to grind."
