Well, well, well. If you think that Howard University student Tyrone Hankerson Jr. was (allegedly) making bank before, he’s about to cash in even more if he wins the lawsuit he intends to file against the school for leaking his financial records.
According to WAMU-TV, Hankerson, whose name has been dragged through the mud and the depths of Black Twitter since he was accused of embezzling some $429,000, is now suing his university for $10 million.
His lawyer, James Walker, told the news station that he has drafted a lawsuit, which he expects to file in D.C. Superior Court later Friday.
Hankerson’s life has been no crystal stair since an anonymous poster used a now-deleted Medium blog post to accuse him of funneling off funds that were meant to help low-income students and directing them into his own pockets. Twitter quickly picked up on the story, sharing photos of Hankerson’s seemingly luxurious lifestyle—including snaps of him wearing brand-name clothing and taking expensive trips.
The third-year law student, for his part, who worked in the school’s financial aid office, has routinely denied the accusations, saying that he has faced “bullying and harassment” as a result of the accusations, and adding that “life has turned completely upside down.”
Howard students have been demanding transparency in the scandal. Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick said that six employees with the financial aid office had been fired in connection with the apparent scam, but neither the names of those employees nor the amount has been released.
Walker mentioned in an earlier interview in CBS that he wanted his client’s name to be cleared in the issue, with Hankerson insisting that he was not one of the employees fired as a result of the case.
And, of course, there was the fact that his records have been “leaked.”
“Tyrone had no control over any decisions made. He was a student,” Walker said earlier this week. “What’s more troubling to me is that Howard has not come out and apologized to this young man [for leaking his records].”
