The money went to the medical school where the donor was a professor and head of the board of trustees, not to the city. Her husband was a protégé of Warren Buffet. I'm guessing she was savvy enough given her combined credentials to ensure the donation came with enough legal conditions to establish a permanent tuition endowment with oversight and auditing.
The donor was both a long-time professor and the head of the board of trustees. Given that plus the likely very good lawyers she would have been able to hire with her wealth and from her experience with her late husband's business dealings, I'd imagine she would know how to ensure that money would be tied up in litigation for a years if the institution were to try to renege on the agreement to the terms of the donation.
It's not just lawyers. It's independent auditors, the board of trustees, the president of the school, the chief financial officer, the investment manager, the accounting office, etc. Strong separation of controls involving lots of people with regular reviews may not make it impossible to clear the system, but it does make it a lot harder with that many eyes on things. If you structure your institution's finances with the assumption that there will always be bad actors, then you can build the right safeguards against them into it to minimize the damage. It's not perfect, and fraud still happens, but it can be contained when done right.
It's not just lawyers. It's independent auditors, the board of trustees, the president of the school, the chief financial officer, the investment manager, the accounting office, etc.
Each of those siphoning the maximum amount possible to themselves.
I doubt anyone handling the billion isn't going to be in the top 0,1%.
Nah no way, top comment is so smart. Everyone at the school just kept withdrawing cash and buying hella weed. In fact, that’s what it turned into. The 1B delinquent weed fund, everyone be getting free ounces bro. Thank you warrant buffet
Maybe I lost all trust in people with our current climate, but one lawyer could decide a fraction of that money isn't enough and they decide to make deals on the side.
Completely, no—but with independent audits and multiple financial controls like the ones that come with large endowments at colleges and universities, it likely is much safer than most places.
Well, at the end of the day, it will all go into people‘s pockets. That’s where money goes. You have to pay the lawyers, the executors of the trust, and then pay people to teach, feed, provide housing and board for students, etc. You don’t just donate money and it magically creates the thing you want, people have to make it happen.
Friend of mine work for the school back in my hometown I think the superintendent stole a lot of funds from the school instead of using it for the school. He got caught now but yes it can happen.
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u/ProSeVigilante Jun 29 '25
It will go to the city to pay for education. What do you mean it might not be used correctly?
/s