Posted on 31 March 2011

Arkansas News Bureau

http://arkansasnews.com/2011/03/31/hardin-surrenders-arkansas-law-license/

LITTLE ROCK — The state Supreme Court today accepted Lu Hardin’s voluntary surrender of his law license, just weeks after the former University of Central Arkansas president pleaded guilty to felony charges.

The high court said it accepted the surrender “in lieu of probable disbarment proceedings.” The court ordered that Hardin’s name be stricken from the registry of licensed attorneys and barred him from practicing law in the state.

On March 7, Hardin pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court here to fraud and money laundering charges in connection with a bonus he received while he was head of the Conway school.

He faces a possible 20 years in prison for wire fraud and up to 10 years for money laundering, and could be fined up to $250,000 in each count.

The UCA Board of Trustees passed a resolution in 2005 awarding Hardin $300,000 in deferred compensation, to be paid at the rate of $60,000 per year out of private donations, in addition to his annual salary of $250,000.

In 2007, the board authorized payment of a $100,000 bonus to Hardin, and Hardin, according to prosecutors, instructed people under his authority to pay him the money immediately from public funds.

In 2008, Hardin dictated letters to his secretary which he presented to the board as if they had been written by his three vice presidents, prosecutors said. The letters claimed it would be legal for Hardin to receive the $300,000 in deferred compensation immediately and not reveal the payment to the public.

As a result of the letters, the board voted in executive session to pay the $300,000 to Hardin immediately. The payment came primarily from public funds.

Prosecutors said Hardin directed his secretary to destroy documentation that he had dictated the letters.

Authorities said that at the time, Hardin was trying to pay off a large personal debt. Friends said later Hardin had a gambling problem.

In its order Thursday, the state Supreme Court said Hardin acknowledged in his petition to surrender his law license filed March 7 that his conduct that was the subject of his plea would constitute “serious misconduct.”

After leaving UCA, Hardin was named president of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla. He quit that job three days before his appearance in federal court.