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Northwestern trustees face a reckoning A board packed with local luminaries will largely determine whether the football hazing scandal is a momentary setback or a permanent scar
JOHN R. BOEHM
BY JUDITH CROWN
Star August, left, and Callan Jaress are co-founders of the Holistic Birth Collective.
I MATERNAL HEALTH
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Northwestern University’s board of trustees and administration must move quickly to dampen the flames of the football hazing scandal before it singes the elite school’s image, experts in higher education say. At stake is Northwestern’s reputation, which is important not only to the school but to the Chicago area, where the presence of a globally respected university is a valuable asset. “Northwestern is one of Chicago’s most powerful magnets for top global talent, attracting the people who invent the world’s future and happily become Chicagoans in the process,” says Paul O’Connor, a consultant who oversaw Chicago’s economic development arm, World Business Chicago, when the city attracted major corporate headquarters such as Boeing. Attention now shifts to a
Retired Abbott Labs CEO Miles White is among the well-known members of NU’s board. 70-member board of trustees packed with local luminaries, underscoring Northwestern’s importance to Chicago as a global city. Trustees include retired Abbott Laboratories CEO Miles White, Rocky Wirtz of Wirtz Corp. and the Chicago Blackhawks, Baxter International CEO José Almeida, and investment honchos Michael Sacks of GCM Grosvenor and Madison See NORTHWESTERN on Page 31
Feds say Outcome Health founder still spends lavishly BY JOHN PLETZ Federal prosecutors say Rishi Shah spent nearly $5,000 on dinner for five at Alinea on Valentine’s Day, while he was on trial for fraud at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. It’s just one reason they aren’t buying the Outcome Health founder’s assertion that millions of dollars in assets that have been frozen by the feds since he was
indicted nearly four years ago are interfering with his ability to hire attorneys of his choice to keep fighting after his April conviction. Prosecutors said in a filing that they want “to restrain Shah’s assets and thereby prevent him from frittering away the money on gambling, yachts and jets.” In court filings last week, prosecutors noted that Shah tried to wire $100,000 each on May 23 to
accounts at sports-betting sites Barstool Sportsbook and DraftKings, which were rejected. A DraftKings email included in government filings said: “We are returning the bank wire due to these reasons: Negative news and closing account.” The filings are the latest examples of the contentious battle See SHAH on Page 30
CRAIN’S FILE PHOTO
Prosecutors cite a nearly $5,000 dinner at Alinea during his fraud trial as reason to worry about millions in assets being frittered away
Rishi Shah
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NOTABLES
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7/14/23 2:53 PM