Daily blogs are supplied to that the public can be educated about the investigation, indictment, and trial of Rachel Yould case. In some cases, entire articles have been listed for ease of education of the reader,because news rolls off the web quickly. Links to the source have been provided. If an article appears and the organization supplying the article requests removal, an email request will be promptly honored.

This site is a free public service dedicated to shine a light on American Injustice and the oft-ignored problems of incest, domestic violence, and child abuse in the United States of America.

For any comments, errata, or questions about the trial, or to sign up for the email updates, please send me email: courtroomblog@gmail.com (remove the "-" or just click on the link)
     
Maintained by: Valerie Harris, FORMER Case Manager/Technical Consultant for the Defense, People v. Susan Polk - courtroomblog@gmail.com

Currently scheduled for April 2010

Check often for updates

Anchorage woman charged with 6 more counts of fraud - Anchorage Daily News

By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com

Published: November 19th, 2009 03:05 PM
Last Modified: November 19th, 2009 03:13 PM

A former Rhodes scholar and beauty queen already charged with student loan fraud was slapped with six more counts of fraud today by the U.S. Attorney's office in Anchorage.

Comments (24)

Rachel Yould, 37, was charged with lying on her mortgage application for her Anchorage condo.

Yould already faced 10 counts against her for allegedly defrauding student loan companies of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prosecutors say she used a second Social Security number to get the money; she obtained the second number through a federal program for victims of domestic violence.

Yould says she is a legitimate victim of domestic violence and was trying to hide from her father. She says she was misled by the Social Security program on how to handle the two numbers.

She is still awaiting her trial on those charges.

Yould is a former Fulbright and Rhodes scholar and currently an Oxford University Ph.D. candidate. She was Miss Anchorage in 1996.

She was living in Japan, working at a university when the investigation into her finances began. She is now in Anchorage, out on bail.

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 907-257-4343.

A Case of Two Amelias (see definition of Amelia)

Thousands of miles away from the Rachel Yould case and Alaska, a survivor of domestic violence in “paradise” was going through a living hell.

After successfully escaping a violent and abusive marriage through domestic violence services and the life-saving aid of a federal identity change and relocation program, this young mother had remarried an upstanding gentleman and was happily living her new life in Hawaii under a new name with a new social security number that concealed her and kept her safe from her abusive ex-husband.  All of it came to an end in September 2008 when the couple took her then 19 month-old daughter to an emergency room when an usually high fever wouldn’t break.

When doctors looked through this young mom’s medical history, there was information that didn’t quite make sense so Child Protective Services (CPS) was contacted for consultation.  When CPS questioned this mom, their suspicions about her grew: she was nervous, anxious and evasive – clearly she had something to hide.  Running a background check produced multiple identities and revealed two social security numbers.  When confronted, she provided outlandish claims and fantastic stories that revolved around a history of domestic violence and childhood abuse but when pressed for specifics, she would say “I’m telling you as much as I possibly can”.  Her husband was a genuinely nice guy – honorable and respectable beyond fault and protective of his wife and her daughter – more “evidence” that something wasn’t adding up.  Deeming mom “uncooperative” and pending the outcome of a more thorough “investigation”, CPS had the sleeping girl removed by police escort from her bed, taking her into foster care without warning and without legitimate reason.

Devastated, mom frantically sought the assistance of the domestic violence service providers who had previously supported her and her daughter but because she was being investigated by agents outside of the domestic violence community, those who could have cleared up the entire misunderstanding before it proceeded any further instead took a step back and away from her.  Some even went so far as to go on record saying that they did not believe her to be a survivor of domestic violence and these were the very people who had helped her to escape!

Those who supported this mom and fought for her plight were few and held no position of authority compared to those they were up against: court officers and community leaders.  Credibility clearly stood on the side of authority but authority holds no value when opposing God’s honest truth.  This mom’s case was so unusual, so extreme and so one-of-a-kind that a desperate cry for help was issued through a national grassroots list serv and then the craziest thing happened: after reading the strange elements involved in the case, an advocate replied, “This sounds like a case I heard of in Alaska, but the investigating agency is not CPS but the US Attorney’s Office”.  When the case histories and processes were compared side-by-side, there was a match.  It was quickly realized that there were other domestic violence survivors being wrongly prosecuted out there so the Save Amelia Campaign was launched to serve as a “lost and found” for those whose identities had been taken away from them for their own safety’s sake.

Through a compare and contrast process between the Hawaii and Alaska Amelia cases, here’s what was discovered:

“On November 4, 1998, Commissioner Kenneth Apfel joined Vice President Al Gore in announcing major procedural changes to make it easier for victims of domestic violence to secure new SSNs.  Under those changes, SSA now assigns new Social Security Numbers based on a written affirmation of the domestic abuse, supported by third-party evidence from sources such as police, medical professionals or locally-recognized battered victims’ shelters.” (From http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssa/ssa2000chapter5.html)

What this means is if you are a program registrant/participant of this SSA domestic violence identity change program, then a professional third-party has CONFIRMED your status as a bona fide domestic violence victim-survivor.

After an analysis of the events leading up to 9/11, counterterrorism efforts became a top national investigative priority.  Terrorists appeared to have the deceptive pattern of procuring two active Social Security Numbers. 

The Amelias in the identity change program entered the program believing that their new Social Security Numbers would REPLACE their old SSNs but in actuality, their old SSNs remained “open and active”, which flagged them as persons of interest to investigative entities.

Due to the extremely confidential nature of the identity change program, the Alaska and Hawaii Amelias were verbally instructed not to disclose or share any information about their pasts or program involvement for their own safety (which explains their hesitance and reluctance to disclose specific details when pressed).  Dutifully they complied, but when both were “caught” with active dual SSNs their allegiance and compliance to the program that saved them led investigators to believe that they now had proof positive of deception and fraud.

Despite the existence of this life-saving service, registrants aren’t given a “What To Do If” manual nor are they provided with any rules, regulations or procedures of how to live their lives under these new protective conditions.  They are told if they have any questions or concerns they can consult any SSA office. Yet when they consult these local offices, the local SSA agents provide advice which, when followed, later results in their investigation and prosecution for wrongdoing.

Identity change registrants are surprised that by becoming involved in the program and by that they will lose their credit history, and may also lose some professional accomplishments and certifications, education credentials, and degrees.

Essentially, if you become a registrant of this program, its very existence is a governmental acknowledgment that there are known perpetrators that the government is unable to thwart; you must give up your life in order to save it.  In the case of the Alaska Amelia (who was an already accomplished scholar) that meant surrendering some of her hard-earned academic achievements and degrees in exchange for disappearing from her abuser and eliminating his access to her BUT maintaining the debt for those accomplishments she was forced to cede!  If you’re “starting from scratch”, are penniless and have to re-complete substantial portions of your academic career in order to provide for yourself and a family someday, wouldn’t you apply for a loan if you were told you had permission to?

The level of terror these women are in to enroll in such a drastic program is incomprehensible; at the point of program entry the only thing they can think of is being free from the grasp of their abusers and living to see another day – they are not thinking through how this will effect their children long-term (whose identities also need to be changed if fleeing a common abuser), how they’ll be able to re-establish necessities like a bank account, employment, real estate or credit history, let alone explain how they are who they are, ie: how do you answer a casual question like “So where are you from?”

When crisis or controversy hits, their worlds shrink.  You’d think that a program that goes to such lengths to protect such a vulnerable population such as domestic violence survivors would stand up for and vigorously defend their registrants, but shockingly and disturbingly, doing what’s popular is more of a priority then doing what’s right when push comes to shove.  This lack of defense and validity by the program and related services is interpreted to mean that the program registrants are not genuine; that they’ve somehow violated “program rules and regulations” (that don’t exist) or that they’ve intentionally, deliberately and maliciously acted in a fraudulent manner for their own self-centered benefit.

In both Hawaii and Alaska Amelia cases, the investigative agencies completely ignored the safety issues identified and communicated. One of the first steps taken in both instances was to directly contact these women’s abusers and inform them of the investigative processes being launched in direct contravention of the US Government's explicit commitment never to do so.  In both cases, years and thousands of dollars invested in keeping these women safe from their abusers were instantly compromised without so much as consulting legitimate domestic violence experts. And now both Amelias lives are in danger as a direct result of these ignorant and reckless actions.

In both Hawaii and Alaska Amelia cases, the investigative agents launched their investigations based upon their own cloak-and-dagger conspiracy theories, ignorance, arrogance and abusing the power of their professional positions in complete absence of credible, concrete evidence.  Wagering their reputations and the taxpayer dollars already spent, admitting that they’ve made serious errors and misjudgments this far into their cases would be more then a public embarrassment.  In the Hawaii Amelia case, NO ONE, not even at case closure, could specifically say what the charges against mom were, and yet these charges kept her baby girl in non-relative foster care for 9 months of her 2 year life.

One of the more despicable aspects of both cases is how the husbands of these survivors have been treated in how the investigative agents have attempted to pit husband against wife, maliciously tear their families apart by their foundations and destroy the careers and professional reputations these men have spent years in building.  Both husbands are honorable, respectable men – individuals you would be proud to have as a member of your family; kind, loving, devoted and who you wouldn’t hesitate leaving your children with, yet both men have been left with the specter of “join us or risk becoming a part of the case”: if you don’t agree with us then you must be a co-conspirator.  In essence, if they defend themselves it can be construed as waiving spousal privilege but if they maintain their silence over what allegations are tossed their way, it can be construed as their tacit guilt and aligned involvement in their spouse’s “wrongdoing”. 

In the Hawaii Amelia case, CPS said that the husband needed to participate in services to “understand the pathology” of his wife so he’d know when to turn her in to authorities in their absence if they returned her daughter to their care.  This husband refused and faithfully stood by his innocent wife; in return, he was named as a child abuser at case closure.  I’m happy to tell you that that the little girl was finally reunited with them and you’ve never seen a more beautiful family (despite mom’s ex-husband’s ongoing stalking, threatening their lives and harassing them now that he knows who and where she is…)

In the Alaska Amelia case, there have been longstanding threats to expand the “investigation into wrongdoing” to include other family members, and promises that all of it will “go away” if she just accepts the plea bargain being placed before her. So if she pursues her right to prove her innocence she risks entangling her family in her nightmare but if she takes the plea, she’s admitting to crimes she didn’t commit and a wife and daughter will be lost to an innocent family.  (Wouldn’t it be nice if the program that created this mess stepped up to the plate, took responsibility for their actions and stopped this relentless drain on taxpayer dollars?)

My hope for the Alaska Amelia is that her case will come to a close based upon the evidence of her innocence, as was ultimately the case for the Hawaii Amelia.  These cases should not only illustrate cases of vindictive prosecution (witch hunts) but should also serve as a cautionary tale to the terrors of domestic violence and the lengths that some victims must go to escape from it.

For those who are professionally identified and paid to help this vulnerable domestic violence survivor population of 1 in 4 women, may your commitment to them be as sincere as your word to protect them and may you stand firm in the face of criticisms as you stand as firm in accepting the accolades for the good work you do.

Dara Carlin, M.A.
Domestic Violence Survivor Advocate
Kailua, Hawaii

Launch of Save Amelia Campaign in ALASKA

In association with this year's calendar of Domestic Violence Awareness Month activities, we will be launching a very important national campaign that highlights a critical DV-related issue that is currently ongoing in our community - the Save Amelia Campaign.

This launch event, which is co-sponsored by AWAIC and hosted by ORSO Restaurant, will be held from 2-4 PM on Saturday, October 3rd, with brief remarks to be delivered at 3 o'clock. Several domestic violence and community organizations from throughout Anchorage will be in attendance to express their support for the plight of Alaska's Amelia. Please join us.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...
…it’s often impossible to prosecute stalkers and perpetrators of domestic violence due to
lack of admissible evidence?

…even if a victim of domestic violence tries to “just leave,” some abusers refuse to accept
that rejection and continue to pose a lifelong safety threat through stalking and ongoing attacks?

…if a victim is seen to be in imminent danger and there is insufficient evidence for the courts
to intercede, the established best practice of the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women is to advise
victims to relocate and change their identity?

…thousands of women in the United States and their children have been assigned second Social
Security Numbers and new identities to protect them from perpetrators the United States Government acknowledges it can not thwart through law enforcement or judicial intervention?

…both legally assigned Social Security Numbers remain active for a lengthy and poorly supervised
transition period?

…unlike the Witness Protection Program, victims provided a new identity due to domestic violence are provided
no formal guidelines and no material support in making the identity transition?

…the US Government provides registrants undocumented and ongoing advice that it
refuses to verify?

…there is little to no coordination among federal and state government agencies, and many
government agencies lack any knowledge of this protective program or procedures for interacting with its registrants?

…on many occasions compliant registrants in this US federal program have been mistaken as
perpetrators of fraud because of their identity status?

…when accused, program registrants are abandoned and told that they can not be helped
for fear of harming this secretive identity change program?

…women have lost custody of their children and been prosecuted for fraud by one arm of the
government for following the rules of a government program?

…so grievous are the known failings of this program that many registrants
are appealing to be released from it?

…one of largest open Amelia cases is proceeding right here in Alaska?

SAVE AMELIA CAMPAIGN
The Save Amelia Campaign is populated by a diverse group of nationally renowned professionals and
experts committed to saving Amelias – women who have been wrongly accused because of their compliant participation in a US federal protective program – nationwide. We invite you to join us.

This is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue.

With your help, a major failure of American institutions can be outweighed and redressed by the citizens and civil society that are truly the bedrock of America.

Learn how you can help Save Amelia
Michelle Love (907-229-1496), Alaska Campaign Coordinator
Valerie Harris (650-793-4002), National Campaign Coordinator

Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Alaska

AGENDA:

Opening Ceremonies
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October 1, 2009

11:30 Welcome: Mistress of Ceremonies, Carol Comeau, ASD Superintendent

11:35 State Proclamation, Governor Sean Parnell

11:45 Video Address, Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Mark Begich

11:55 Joint Proclamation:

Diane Ingle, Director of the Municipal Department of Health and Human Services

Timothy R. Prior, Colonel US Army Commanding, Ft. Richardson

Colonel Thomas W. Bergeson, Commander 3rd Wing, EAFB

12:05 Dara Carlin, Domestic Violence Advocate

12:10 Corinna Delgado, On-air Personality and Performance Poet

12:15 Suzi Pearson, AWAIC, Inc. Interim Executive Director

DVAM Awards: ASD Child in Transition/Homeless Program
                          ANHC Homeless Program

12:25 Closing Remarks, Carol Comeau

12:29 Fireweed Dancers

LOCATION:

	Z. J. Loussac Public Library
	3600 Denali Street Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 343-2975 Directions & Map

Download the flyer in PDF
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Awareness about domestic violence can start change - The Bristol Bay Times

KYRSTIN HARDIN
October 01, 2009 at 1:14PM AKST

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and SAFE (Safe and Fear-Free Environment) has organized several events during this time, some public and some a bit more subtle.

As we observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are reminded that there are many things Alaskans should be proud of but being No. 1 in the nation for battering women should not be one of them. If we all do our part to raise our collective voices and say “enough is enough” we can turn the tide on this No. 1 public health issue for women and children in Bristol Bay.

SAFE has some good places to start. We are looking for volunteers for the crisis line, which is based in Dillingham. It’s one of the hardest jobs you’ll ever love, especially for those of you who want to help change the world but can’t find a child care provider or can’t leave the house. SAFE’s crisis line is the only 24-hour/seven-days a week toll-free number for Bristol Bay, and it has been operated entirely by trained volunteers since it began 25 years ago. Crisis line listeners help people directly when they need it the most.

Then there are village-based advocates. The majority of the people SAFE serves in the 33 villages of the Bristol Bay region are related to each other. We know this can often complicate, isolate and perhaps compromise a victim’s safety or even the service provider’s safety. We also understand that if a victim of violence knows there is a safe place to go to or that there is someone to talk to, it can be the cornerstone for healing and hope. SAFE currently has advocates in Manokotak, Ekwok, New Stuyahok, Naknek, Togiak and the Iliamna/Newhalen area.

We are fortunate to live in a community that even with all our individual issues and politics, will still rise to the occasion and reach out with help when the call goes out. Not every community has that. We are lucky. Let’s continue to make Dillingham and Bristol Bay region one of Alaska success stories in wellness and healthy living. Let our community be the one where men and women treat each other with respect, every child is cherished and every home is safe.

Kyrstin Hardin is the youth advocate for Safe and Fear Free Enviornment.
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We're not #1! - Alaksa Dispatch
October 1, 2009

According to a new study of 2007 FBI homicide data, the Violence Policy Center found that Alaska had the second highest rate of homicide of women in the U.S., at 2.44 per 100,000. Louisiana had the highest rate for that year, at 2.53 per 100,000. The center releases this study annually to raise awareness of domestic violence because women are far more likely to be killed by someone they know than by a stranger. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Read the study's press release stub here, and read the entire study here (.pdf).
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US funds to fight rural domestic violence - Alaksa Dispatch
October 1, 2009

According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the US Justice Department announced Monday that the Alaska Native Women's Coalition will receive $154,000 to hire new staff and develop on-site training programs about local, state, and federal domestic violence resources. The program will begin in Nulato and in Hoonah, and the coalition will work in conjunction with the Alaska court system and the Alaska State Troopers. Compared to other ethnic groups, American Indian and Alaska Native women are seriously at-risk from physical and sexual violence. The funds are part of a $2.8 million federal recovery appropriation to combat tribal domestic violence. Read more here. We're happy something's being done, but the funds don't seem sufficient because this problem is so huge and stubborn. A 400-pound gorilla needs a pretty big tranquilizer dart.
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Domestic Violence in Our Lives - Psychology Today
October 1, 2009

Telling Your Story: Domestic Violence Awareness Month

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, this blog is an invitation to anyone and everyone who has ever been touched by intimate partner abuse - whether as a victim and/or abuser, as a child or an adult, as a sibling or a friend - to share your stories, your questions, and your desire to find ways of understanding what happened.

Here's my story to get us started (read more in Violent Partners):

Twenty years ago, I began seriously dating a man who was abusive with me on several occasions. Between the incidences of abuse, he was deeply apologetic, very honest, and really seemed committed to trying to change his behavior. At a certain point, we both agreed that we wanted counseling - not because we were mutually to blame for his violence, but because I wanted to be part of the recovery.
Related Articles

* Advice: He's Trying to Control Her
* Slasher basher
* Why Do Some Battered Women Stay?
* Why do they stay?
* Advice: Unconventional Wisdom

To our surprise and disappointment, all three of the therapists with whom we met refused to treat us. They told my boyfriend he needed to work on his violence in his own therapy before we could do couples counseling together. Although I understood that this was designed to protect me, it actually had the opposite effect: I felt isolated with nowhere to turn for help.

When the violence escalated to a point I could no longer explain it away, I found myself emotionally bound up with my boyfriend and unwilling to leave him. I renewed my efforts to find a therapist willing to treat us both, and was finally successful.

Several months later, I left this man, largely thanks to the therapist's guidance and support. Perhaps this is what motivates my commitment to seek effective therapy for women and men who are in violent relationships today.

Tell us YOUR Story!
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Judge will assign public defender in fraud case - Anchorage Daily News

enlarge
ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News /
Rachel Yould arrives at the Federal Building downtown with her husband, Brett, on Thursday afternoon, April 17, 2009. Rachel Yould faces charges on 10 counts of fraud.

RHODES SCHOLAR: Former Anchorage resident accused of illegally obtaining loans.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com

Published: April 16th, 2009 08:27 PM
Last Modified: April 17th, 2009 09:39 AM

Prosecutor Retta-Rae Randall unsuccessfully argued earlier this week that Yould, a former Fulbright scholar and Oxford University Ph.D. candidate, had plenty of money to afford her own attorney. She said Yould, who grew up in Anchorage, had hidden assets and was stashing money in an offshore account in Guernsey, off northwest France.

It was the first showdown in the bizarre case in which federal prosecutors say Yould is a fraud who used student loan companies like her own private money tree, while Yould says she's just a Ph.D. candidate, now a professor in Japan, a nerdy academic who took out a lot of loans to pay for an expensive education.

Yould faces 10 counts of fraud.

The case centers on Yould obtaining a second Social Security number. She got the number through a federal program for victims of domestic violence. The program allows victims to create a second identity to hide from stalkers and abusers. In Yould's case, the alleged abuser is her biological father.

On Tuesday, Judge Smith asked for details of that abuse to explain why Yould was still so scared that she has been switching safe houses every night since returning to the United States to face the charges.

But no details were offered Thursday. Yould agreed to month-long stays at temporary houses, and to always let the court know where she was. That satisfied the judge but denied those in court an explanation of what Yould claims drove her to create a second identity and leave the country.

Because her assets and financial portfolio go to the heart of her defense, Yould requested the Thursday court proceeding about whether she could afford a lawyer take place in private with just the judge. Even the prosecutor was asked to step outside while Smith talked to Yould and a temporary lawyer for about 20 minutes.

Federal prosecutors say Yould took out $680,000 in student loans to attend institutions like Stanford University and Oxford University. They say about $270,000 of that was obtained illegally from 2003 to 2006 -- it was not only above her lifetime maximum allotment for the subsidized student loans but it wasn't even used for education, they say. Instead, she used the money to boost her investment portfolio and start a business, they say.

Yould says she may not have been attending classes but she was a student working on her Ph.D., and everything was spent on education. She thought the money she obtained was legal and blames the Social Security program that gave her the second Social Security number for giving her bad advice.

Yould is scheduled for trial June 15.

http://www.akd.uscourts.gov/pcal_nwda.htm

Plan to Change Student Lending Sets Up a Fight - New York Times

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Jonathan D. Glater contributed reporting.
Published: April 12, 2009

WASHINGTON — The private student lending industry and its allies in Congress are maneuvering to thwart a plan by President Obama to end a subsidized loan program and redirect billions of dollars in bank profits to scholarships for needy students.

The plan is the main money-saving component of Mr. Obama’s education agenda, which includes a sweeping overhaul of financial aid programs. The Congressional Budget Office says replacing subsidized loans made by private banks with direct government lending would save $94 billion over the next decade, money that Mr. Obama would use to expand Pell grants for the poorest students.

But the proposal has ignited one of the most fractious policy fights this year.

Because it would make spending on Pell grants mandatory, limiting Congressional control, powerful appropriators are balking at it. Republicans say the plan is proof that Mr. Obama is trying to vastly expand government. Democrats are divided, with lawmakers from districts where lenders are big employers already drawing battle lines.

At the same time, the private loan industry, which would have collapsed without a government rescue last year, has begun lobbying aggressively to save a program that has generated giant profits with very little risk.

“The administration has decided that it wants to capture the profits of federal student loans,” said Kevin Bruns, executive director of America’s Student Loan Providers, a trade group that is fighting Mr. Obama’s plan.

To press its case, the nation’s largest student lender, Sallie Mae, has hired two prominent lobbyists, Tony Podesta, whose brother, John, led the Obama transition, and Jamie S. Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.

For lenders, the stakes are huge. Just last week, Sallie Mae reported that despite losing $213 million in 2008, it paid its chief executive more than $4.6 million in cash and stock and its vice chairman more than $13.2 million in cash and stock, including the use of a company plane. The company, which did not receive money under the $700 billion financial system bailout and is not subject to pay restrictions, also disbursed cash bonuses of up to $600,000 to other executives.

Sallie Mae said that executive compensation was lower in 2008 than 2007 and that the stock awards were worthless in the current market.

Critics of the subsidized loan system, called the Federal Family Education Loan Program, say private lenders have collected hefty fees for decades on loans that are risk-free because the government guarantees repayment up to 97 percent. With the government directly or indirectly financing virtually all federal student loans because of the financial crisis, the critics say there is no reason to continue a program that was intended to inject private capital into the education lending system.

Under the subsidized loan program, the government pays lenders like Citigroup, Bank of America and Sallie Mae, with both the subsidy and the maximum interest rate for borrowers set by Congress. Students are steered to the government’s direct program or to outside lenders, depending on their school’s preference.

Private lenders say they still provide valuable service, marketing, customer relations, billing, default prevention and collection of delinquent loans. The lenders say the budget savings could be achieved without ending their role and are pushing to keep the system in place, including an arrangement approved by Congress last year by which they are paid to originate loans but can resell them to the government.

Martha Holler, a spokeswoman for Sallie Mae, said the company wanted a compromise. “To be clear, there are those who are fighting to preserve the historic financing structure for federal student loans,” she wrote in an e-mail message following up on a telephone interview. “Sallie Mae is not among them. In fact, we support constructive alternatives that would generate a similar level of taxpayer savings to achieve the administration’s important goals.”

Lenders are also emphasizing the jobs they provide.

Sallie Mae’s chief executive, Albert L. Lord, held a town-hall-style meeting last week at the company’s loan center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., with two Democrats, Senator Bob Casey and Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, to announce the return of 2,000 jobs that were sent overseas in 2007.

Mr. Lord, in his opening speech, insisted that Mr. Obama’s proposal offered new opportunities, but he said he would fight to keep the current system mostly intact.

“We can either meet or beat the budget savings that are in the president’s budget with the exact same system that we have got working now with maybe a few tweaks,” he said.

But to preserve a profitable role for private lenders and still achieve Mr. Obama’s savings seems extremely difficult if not impossible; initial projections put forward by Sallie Mae could reach only 82 percent of the president’s goal over five years.

Last year, to keep education financing from drying up, Congress expanded the government’s role, including the repurchase of loans, which Sallie Mae and some other lenders say should be mandatory going forward.

“When you add that all up, a very legitimate question to ask is why do we even need private lenders,” said Representative Timothy H. Bishop, Democrat of New York and a former provost of Southampton College.

For Mr. Bishop and many other education advocates, Mr. Obama’s plan to expand the existing direct loan program used by more than 1,500 schools is obvious and long overdue.

But the administration has a fight on its hands.

“The president’s proposal,” Representative Allen Boyd, Democrat of Florida, said in a floor speech, “could be detrimental to thousands of employees who serve in the current student loan industry throughout this country, 650 of which are located in Panama City, Florida.”

In some states, student loans are administered by quasi-governmental agencies that benefit the same as private lenders. To appeal to these states, the administration has proposed $500 million a year for financial literacy programs and other services the agencies provide.

Political opposition may be harder to overcome.

Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, the senior Republican on the education committee, said Democrats should not cut out lenders. “A government-run, one-size-fits-all program is not the answer,” he said.

But some lawmakers have no sympathy for an industry now kept afloat by taxpayers.

“If the banks complain that they are getting cut out,” said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, “too bad.”

At the Wilkes-Barre event, Mr. Lord of Sallie Mae acknowledged his industry’s reliance on the government. “I don’t see private capital financing student loans, certainly any time soon,” he said.

Even as lenders fight the president’s plan, Sallie Mae and others are bidding for work that will remain if it is adopted — contracts for loan servicing and other back office operations.

The president’s plan would use the money from direct lending to help increase Pell grants and make them mandatory, with annual increases tied to inflation, providing a much-needed measure of certainty for students. That would limit Congressional control over the grants, an idea appropriators are not keen on, but the White House and Congressional leaders say they are open to negotiation.

Anticipating a ferocious legislative battle, Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the education committee, is weighing all options.

“Chairman Miller’s priority is to make our federal student loan programs as reliable, sustainable and efficient as possible for students, families and taxpayers,” his spokeswoman, Rachel Racusen, said.

Former Rhodes scholar indicted on 10 counts of fraud
Woman accused of using second identity to get student loans
Story last updated at 3/8/2009 - 10:41 am

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE - A former Rhodes scholar has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts of fraud.

The indictment returned Thursday accuses 37-year-old Rachel Yould, a former Miss Anchorage now living in Tokyo, of using another identity to get a second set of student loans, which were used to fund an investment account and private business.

"The U.S. Attorney's office takes very seriously the crime of engaging in a scheme to defraud the institutions that are designed to provide loans for educational purposes," assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis said.

The government claims Yould got a second Social Security number in 2003 under a program designed for victims of domestic violence and harassment. The indictment claims she used her name and her maiden name, Rachel Hall, to get the student loans from the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, the Stafford loan program and private loans from Sallie Mae Corp.

Her mother-in-law, Sherrie Yould, told the Anchorage Daily News, that Rachel created the second identity to protect herself and believed she was following the rules of the Social Security Administration.

According to prosecutors, she used the name Hall to co-sign for student loans for Yould without informing lenders that the two Social Security numbers belonged to the same person. She's also accused of misrepresenting to Oxford University the types of loans it was certifying, and falsifying her income to lenders.

Yould's mother-in-law said the real story is far more complicated.

Sherrie Yould said Rachel Yould created the second identity because she was stalked and in danger.

"There was nothing to do but to go into hiding," Sherrie Yould said.

Court records show Yould sought a restraining order in 2002.

According to the indictment, Yould moved to Japan in 2001 to do research toward her doctorate.

She was told the same year she had reached her lifetime borrowing limit of state-subsidized student loans. The indictment says she maxed out the Stafford loans the next year, and claims that's when she created the new identity and began applying for loans under that name.

The indictment says she continued to apply for money until 2006, and didn't inform lenders she was no longer a student.

Anchorage Rhodes scholar charged with fraud

By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com

Published: March 5th, 2009 04:52 PM
Last Modified: March 6th, 2009 10:33 AM

She's a Fulbright and Rhodes scholar who spent four years at Oxford, has a Ph.D., is a former Miss Anchorage, worked with Mother Teresa and was named by Glamour magazine as one of the most notable college students in America.

On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted her on 10 counts of fraud.

Investigators say Rachel Yould, 37, created a second identity to get two sets of student loans, using one of them to invest in a Smith Barney account and a private business.

But people who know the accused woman say she created a second identity to hide from a man who was abusing her and the bureaucratic complexities of doing that left her in a bizarre position.

A Bartlett High graduate, Yould now lives in Japan and appears, from a university Web site, to be a professor of media and government at Keio University.

"The U.S. Attorney's office takes very seriously the crime of engaging in a scheme to defraud the institutions that are designed to provide loans for educational purposes," said assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis .

Prosecutors say in 2003, Yould obtained a second Social Security number under a special regulation of the Social Security Administration for victims of domestic violence and harassment. She then used the names Rachel Yould, her maiden name, and Rachel Yould and the two different Social Security numbers to obtain student loans from the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, the Stafford loan program, and private loans from Sallie Mae Corp.
She used the name Hall to co-sign for student loans for Yould, and didn't notify the lenders that the two Social Security numbers belonged to the same person, prosecutors say.

She also is accused of falsifying her income to the lenders and misrepresenting to Oxford University the types of loans it was certifying.

But Yould's mother-in-law, Sherrie Yould, in a phone interview late Thursday, said the real story is far more complicated. Rachel Yould was stalked and in danger, she said.

She created a second identity to protect herself. "There was nothing to do but to go into hiding."

Valerie Harris, a friend of Yould's, said Yould changed her last name, got a new Social Security number and moved to Japan to hide. Harris said with the new identity Yould had no credit history and was running into hurdles. She called the Social Security Administration, got advice from there, and did what they told her to do, Harris said.

"The real kicker here is, there is no paper trail," Harris said. She said Yould has been paying off her student loan. "This girl's been a model citizen."

Alaska court records confirm that Yould sought a restraining order against a man named Robert Hall in 2002.

According to previous media reports, Yould was an acclaimed academic star. After graduating from Bartlett in 1990, she went on to U.C. Davis, Stanford University and then Oxford University in 1997. She told a reporter at the time that she wrote a book of poetry at 17, had worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta helping AIDS patients and was honored by the U.S. Congress with a Congressional Gold Award.

Her employment has included interning at the White House and working for the U.S. Department of Defense, according to her resume posted online. She was Miss Anchorage in 1996.

According to the indictment, Yould moved to Japan in 2001 to do research toward her Ph.D. That year, she was told she had maxed out her lifetime borrowing limit of state-subsidized student loans, which was $60,000. In 2003, she maxed out her subsidized Stafford loans at $65,500. That's when she got a new Social Security number and started applying for loans under that name.

Prosecutors say she provided fraudulent documents and statements to lenders, and did not inform lenders when she was no longer a student.

The scheme started in 2003, and Yould continued to apply for money until 2006, according to the indictment.

Feldis said he didn't know if efforts will be made to extradite Yould from Japan should she choose not to return willingly to face the charges.

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

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DOJ Press Release

NEWS RELEASE
KAREN L. LOEFFLER
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
DISTRICT OF ALASKA

Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse • 222 W. 7th Avenue • Room 253 • Anchorage, AK 99513 • (907) 271-5071
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 5, 2009

FORMER OXFORD STUDENT INDICTED FOR STUDENT LOAN FRAUD

Anchorage, Alaska – United States Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today, March 5, 2009, that Rachel Denkler Yould (aka Rachel Eyre Hall), formerly of Anchorage, Alaska, but presently living in Kanagawa-ken, Japan, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage on ten counts of mail and wire fraud.

The ten-count indictment named Yould, age 37, as the sole defendant.

According to the indictment, Rachel Hall is the maiden name of Rachel Yould. In 2003, Yould obtained a new social security number under a special regulation of the Social Security Administration (SSA) for victims of domestic violence and harassment. The indictment alleges that Yould used the names of Rachel Hall and Rachel Yould to obtain student loans from the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, the Stafford loan program, and private loans from Sallie Mae Corporation, which exceeded the lifetime maximum limit allowed for any one person. Contrary to the regulatory purpose of the SSA program, she used the name Hall to co-sign for student loans in the name Yould and applied for student loans using social security numbers for both names without notifying the lenders that the names belonged to the same person. She also provided false statements of income to lenders and misrepresented to Oxford University the types of loans it was certifying. In addition, Yould used the student loan funds for non-educational purposes, which included investing in a Smith Barney Investment Account and investing in a for-profit business known as Oxford International Review Management Services.

Assistant United States Attorney Retta Randall, who presented the case to the grand jury, indicated that the law provides for a maximum total sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $ 250,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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