The Wall Street Journal - 19.08.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, August 19, 2019 |A

Heald’s 12 campuses, along

with the other schools under

its ownership, in 2015 as part

of a deal with the Education

Department the prior year

that included selling the bulk

of its more than 100 campuses.

Corinthian said the wind-

ing-down was largely because

of financial penalties and con-

ditions imposed by federal and

state regulators. Authorities

were concerned about the

company’s marketing prac-

tices, including claims that it

falsified data about student

merce, a new Massachusetts

tax on short-term rentals is

drawing some blame for that.

But heeding the shark threat

has become part of the experi-

ence. Visitors regularly use the

conservancy’s Sharktivity app

to track sightings, including

about a dozen on a recent Sat-

urday, stretching from Nan-

tucket to the Outer Cape.

To fill gaps, Wellfleet resi-

dent Heather Doyle, whose

nonprofit pushes for improved

shark surveillance, recently

started handing out loaner ra-

dios to beachgoers for shark re-

ports from passing pilots. Also,

emergency phones are now

wired near beach bathhouses to

augment spotty cell service.

The same morning Mr. Jacob

saw a shark near Newcomb

Hollow Beach, lifeguards at

Head of the Meadow Beach in

Truro saw a white shark

breaching above the surface,

causing them to pull swimmers

from the water, too.

“It’s very unsettling,” said

Linda Turoczi, a 72-year-old

painter from Pennsylvania who

vacations yearly on the Cape,

though she said she wouldn’t

stop coming.

Like many local surfers, 57-

year-old Mark Kielpinski has in-

stalled a $500 device on his

board that uses electrical

pulses to irritate sharks’ prey-

sensing receptors. The

Brewster resident also added

white stripes to the legs of his

black wetsuit to look less like a

seal, and he carries a tourni-

quet in his backpack, he said.

The surfers, who often speak

of spiritual connections to the

water, were hit especially hard

by last year’s fatality of 26-

year-old Arthur Medici. Walk-

ing the beach on a late after-

noon, Wellfleet surfers Kai

U.S. NEWS

Potter and Emma Doyle said

the attack drew people closer

but left a lasting mark.

Mr. Potter, 34, who was

struggling to regain confidence

on his board, said Cape Cod-

ders are waiting to see whether

September’s death was a one-

time event.

“I think that’s what everyone

is doing now,” he said, “holding

their breath.”

WELLFLEET, Mass.—During
a recent morning surf at a town
beach here, Andy Jacob spotted
a dark shadow in the water just
a few feet away. He assumed it
was a gray seal because they
are everywhere these days—un-
til he got a better view.
“As clear as day, it was a
great white shark,” said the 40-
year-old Wellfleet resident,
who had been surfing around
the same spot where a great
white killed a boogie boarder
last September. He said he
warned others nearby and that
a lifeguard temporarily ordered
people out of the water, stan-
dard protocol after a sighting.
It is peak shark season on
Cape Cod, and this summer, the
huge animals just offshore are
an inescapable presence to the
people on dry land.
Beachgoers are greeted with
warning signs: “People have
been seriously injured and
killed by white sharks along
this coastline.” Lifeguards have
first-aid kits with tourniquets
to stanch bleeding and they fly
purple shark-emblazoned warn-
ing flags full-time. An annual
charity swim off Provincetown
in September will reroute to be
closer to shore. Several surf in-
structors have stopped offering
lessons, and parents are order-
ing their kids to stay in the
shallows.
Beach closures are common:
One town, Truro, has shut
swimming at different beaches
more than 20 times since the
beginning of July.
“We’ve been bullied out of
the water by the sharks,” said
A.J. Salerno, who lives in
nearby Eastham. He has barred
his teenage sons from surfing
the Cape, has stopped swim-
ming into deep water and even
thought about moving.
Many people grew up or
summered on the Cape without
fear, lulled by an artificial envi-
ronment cleansed of seals and
sharks because of human hunt-
ing. Until last year, great whites
hadn’t killed someone off the
Massachusetts coast since 1936.
The federal government passed
a law protecting ocean mam-
mals in 1972, bolstering a state
halt on bounty hunting, and the
seal population has flourished.
Sharks are now drawn to the
abundant prey, and a Massa-
chusetts state researcher who
tags great whites said he had
his busiest July. Overall, re-
searchers have identified at
least 300 of the apex predators
prowling local waters, he said.
The vast majority of sightings
near beaches are on a stretch
of outer Cape Cod facing the
open Atlantic.
“We’ve seen sharks as big as
15 feet in less than 5 feet of wa-
ter,” said Megan Winton, a re-
search scientist with the non-
profit Atlantic White Shark
Conservancy.
Researchers stress attacks
on humans by great whites are
rare, and many visitors say
sharks won’t scare them off.
Beaches are filled on sunny
days, and the Cape’s attrac-
tions—a vibrant arts scene, ice-
cream shops and shark-free
ponds—remain a draw. While
there are signs home rentals
softened this spring, according
to the region’s chamber of com-

BYJONKAMP

Shark Summer at the Cape

Beachgoers get used

to warning signs,

closures and staying

close to the shore

A great white shark is seen just off a beach on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in July.

WAYNE DAVIS/OCEAN AERIALS

OnBoard

Surfersareusing

technologyanddetails

ontheirsurfboardsand

wetsuitstowardoff

sharks.

Vivien Ngo/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Sources: Ocean Guardian (battery);

Shark Eyes (eyes); Mark Kielpinski (remaining)

Stripesontheboardare

designedtomakethem

looklesslikeseals.

Abatterymountedon

topemitsanelectric

fieldtoannoysharks.

AwhiteT-shirtandastriped

wetsuitbreakupdarkcolors

totrytodifferentiate

surfersfromseals.

Eyedecalscantrick

sharksintothinking

theyhavebeen

spotted,ruiningtheir

elementofsurprise.

at the heart of a dispute be-

tween the industry, which ar-

gues that these institutions

are often the best option for

veterans to obtain degrees,

and some lawmakers, who

counter that the funding rule

leads schools to exploit vul-

nerable students.

Funding from federal aid at

for-profit colleges and universi-

ties, which often specialize in

career-focused two-year de-

grees and certificates, is gov-

erned by the “90/10 rule,”

which caps at 90% the total rev-

enue schools can receive from

federal financial aid such as Pell

Grants or loans. That rule, cre-

ated in 1998, was meant to en-

sure that poor-quality schools

wouldn’t be propped up by fed-

eral aid dollars.

Under the formula, GI Bill

dollars count toward the non-

federal end of that equation.

Schools that struggle to find

students who will pay their own

way can turn to veterans to

plug the revenue hole without

hitting the federal-fund ceiling.

The industry is under pres-

sure after punitive actions by

investigators who have accused

schools like Heald of inflating

job-placement rates to prospec-

tive students. In the past half-

decade, a handful of for-profit

chains shut down, and several

others have been accused of

deceptive recruiting practices

that prompted state sanctions

and law-enforcement scrutiny.

At the height of their popu-

larity, for-profit schools

served about one in 10 stu-

dents, but they also were a

disproportionate driver of the

run-up to $1.5 trillion in total

U.S. student debt.

Efforts to reach many of the

defunct schools for comment

were unsuccessful.

Heald’s veteran-recruitment

practice was in line with other

schools that shared its parent,

Corinthian Colleges Inc. The

now-defunct chain closed

job placement—for which the

company was fined $29.7 mil-

lion in 2015.

The 90/10 loophole has be-

come a target of Democratic

lawmakers. Democrats have

made changing how GI Bill ben-

efits factor into the formula a

priority in their overhaul of the

federal law governing higher

education, which House and

Senate committees are cur-

rently negotiating. Some Repub-

licans argue eliminating the rule

altogether could solve the issue.

Industry advocates counter

that squeezing revenue for the

schools could force some insti-

tutions to close—hurting stu-

dents who want to enter the

workforce quickly or who prefer

to complete course loads online.

Some veterans’ advocates,

meanwhile, have proposed ex-

cluding veterans from the 90/

equation, so schools aren’t dis-

couraged from accepting them

because of how their benefits

factor into either proportion.

Jose Diaz-Buttler, a trained
mechanic three years removed
from the Navy, was seeking
steady work in the Bay Area
when the 2008 financial crisis
hit. After initially contacting
Heald College, a nearby for-
profit school, to boost his job
prospects, he found himself
the target of calls every other
day from Heald recruiters who
promised job leads following
graduation.
But those opportunities
didn’t materialize after Mr.
Diaz-Buttler enrolled and later
graduated from its computer-
science program with two as-
sociate degrees in 2011.
For-profit colleges’ aggres-
sive recruitment of veterans
like Mr. Diaz-Buttler, now 37
years old, is partly spurred on
by a loophole that exempts GI
Bill dollars from a federal
funding cap. That loophole is

BYJESSENARANJO
ANDMICHELLEHACKMAN

Lawmakers Eye Loophole on For-Profit Colleges’ Funding

Navy veteran Jose Diaz-Buttler was recruited by a for-profit college.

NICK GONZALES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Local prosecutors in Man-

hattan labeled Jeffrey Epstein a

low-level sex offender nearly a

decade ago, against the recom-

mendation of a state panel of

experts and to the shock of a

New York judge.

Documents obtained through

a public-records request pro-

vide new insight into how Mr.

Epstein wielded influence

within the criminal-justice sys-

tem, as his lawyers at Kirkland

& Ellis LLP tried to prevent the

financier from having to report

to New York City police regu-

larly or appear in a public sex-

offender database.

Attorneys Jay Lefkowitz and

Sandra Musumeci recruited the

former state prosecutor in Flor-

ida who oversaw the original

investigation of Mr. Epstein to

speak with assistant district at-

torneys in Manhattan, the re-

cords show. In letters and a

meeting with the Manhattan

office, the defense lawyers dis-

missed Florida police allega-

tions of Mr. Epstein’s sexual en-

counters with girls as

“inflammatory” and “unreli-

able” and portrayed him as a

benefactor with a compelling

life story who was “not in any

way a typical sex offender.”

They got what they wanted

from Manhattan prosecutors

but ultimately lost in court.

Still, in the end, Mr. Epstein

avoided the most onerous sex-

offender requirements in New

York, having established his

primary residence in the U.S.

Virgin Islands.

Mr. Lefkowitz and Ms.

Musumeci didn’t respond to

calls and emails seeking com-

ment.

A spokesman for Manhattan

District Attorney Cyrus Vance

Jr. said Mr. Epstein’s lawyers

dealt only with two prosecutors

in the office on the sex-offender

designation: Jennifer Gaffney,

the deputy chief of the sex

crimes unit, and Patrick Egan.

Mr. Epstein was found dead

in a Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10,

while awaiting trial on new sex-

trafficking charges stemming

from what federal prosecutors

alleged was a yearslong scheme

to procure and sexually abuse

dozens of girls. A medical ex-

aminer determined the cause of

death was suicide.

More than a decade earlier,

Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty in

Florida to soliciting a prostitute

and “procuring a person under

18 for prostitution.” The second

felony charge required him to

register as a sex offender in the

state and other places where he

had homes, including New

York.

A Palm Beach police report

cited interviews with several

girls who described giving Mr.

Epstein massages that turned

sexual. But his lawyers worked

out a deal with federal and

state prosecutors that limited

his exposure to the two prosti-

tution-related counts and sent

him to jail for 13 months with

broad work-release privileges.

After reviewing the police

report, the New York Board of

Examiners of Sex Offenders

recommended in August 2010

placing Mr. Epstein in the cate-

gory of offenders deemed at

the highest risk of committing

another crime.

If adopted by a court, the

board’s recommendation meant

Mr. Epstein would have to

check in with New York police

every 90 days and be listed in a

public database of sex offend-

ers with his photo.

That fall, Mr. Lefkowitz and

Ms. Musumeci said in letters to

the Manhattan district attor-

ney’s office that prosecutors

should place little weight on al-

legations against Mr. Epstein

that Florida prosecutors de-

clined to charge. They argued

for classifying Mr. Epstein

among the lowest-risk sex of-

fenders.

The Kirkland & Ellis attor-

neys offered to connect prose-

cutors to Barry Krischer, the

former Palm Beach County

state attorney who oversaw the

Epstein case in Florida. The

Manhattan prosecutors de-

clined but contacted the Palm

Beach County state attorney’s

office to figure out why allega-

tions against Mr. Epstein in the

police report didn’t lead to

charges, according to Ms. Gaff-

ney. Mr. Krischer didn’t re-

spond to a request for com-

ment.

Guidelines for the New York

Board of Examiners of Sex Of-

fenders say “the fact that an of-

fender was not indicted for an

offense may be strong evidence

that the offense did not occur.”

“After two months of seek-

ing out additional information,

I still had nothing more. At that

time, I made a legal determina-

tion that I could not rely solely

on the police reports,” Ms.

Gaffney said.

She informed Mr. Epstein’s

lawyers in December 2010 that

the district attorney’s office

would consent to designating

Mr. Epstein as low risk.

Ms. Gaffney had to defend

her decision at a January 2011

hearing in New York Supreme

Court.

“I am a little overwhelmed

because I have never seen the

prosecutor’s office do anything

like this,” Justice Ruth Pickholz

told Ms. Gaffney, according to a

transcript. Ms. Gaffney said the

board of examiners had erred

by relying on unproven allega-

tions in the Palm Beach police

report.

The judge sided with the

board, placing Mr. Epstein in

the most serious category of

sex offender.

The Manhattan district at-

torney’s office changed its posi-

tion after Mr. Epstein appealed

Justice Pickholz’s order, ac-

knowledging that the allega-

tions in the Palm Beach police

report were reliable proof of

criminal conduct.

The New York City Police

Department never required him

to check in, however, because

his primary residence was in

the Virgin Islands, an agency

spokeswoman said. But he was

entered in the sex-offender da-

tabase his lawyers had so

hoped to avoid.

BYJOEPALAZZOLO

Epstein Lawyers

Worked to Secure

A Lesser Offense

Documents show

how the financier

wielded influence

within the system.