Former Columbia Southern business dean charged with student-loan fraud

Christopher Adalikwu

MOBILE, Ala. – A Foley man who was fired from his job at an online university based in Orange Beach has been charged with using a fraudulent Social Security number to take out tens of thousands of dollars in federal student loans.

In one case, according to a criminal complaint filed in Mobile, Christopher Adalikwu failed to attend the school he listed on his loan application.

Authorities arrested Adalikwu, 47, on Wednesday at the Foley post office.

He made an appearance today in U.S. District Court, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Sonja Bivins set a detention hearing for Monday. Federal prosecutors have said they believe Adalikwu is a risk to run if he gets out of jail.

Defense attorney Robert Ratliff said he knows little about the case or his client. Ratliff said Adalikwu came to the United States from his native Nigeria when he was about 18 years old.

“Unfortunately, he comes from a different society, where the rules are different,” Ratliff said.

The affidavit filed by a criminal investigator with the U.S. Department of Education accuses Adalikwu of submitting an online application to federally backed Sallie Mae on Aug. 19 for a loan to attend the Grenoble Graduate School of Business in France.

A computer system flagged the application, based on the Social Security number that Adalikwu used. A subsequent check showed that the number Adalikwu listed on his application – which was one digit different from his true Social Security number – belonged to a man who died in 1976.

The National Student Loan Data System indicates that the number Adalikwu used has an outstanding balance, including interest, of $176,034, according to the affidavit. Those records indicate that Adalikwu obtained $37,000 in loans from Sallie Mae between 1998 and 2000 to attend the University of Sheffield in Britain. Although he applied to the school, he never enrolled there, the affidavit states.