U professors investigated for salary double-dip

University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
MPR Photo/ Ross Holtan

University of Minnesota officials are looking into allegations against two prominent professors that they inappropriately drew two salaries at two different schools.

The Georgia Institute of Technology claims Francois Sainfort, and his wife, Julie Jacko, continued to collect pay and expenses from the school even after starting employment with the U of M last October.

U of M attorney Mark Rotenberg says professors often get paid for work at the school they are leaving and the school they are coming to at the same time. But he calls the allegations 'troubling'.

"What we need to figure out here of course is the precise nature of the agreements and understandings that Georgia Tech had with these two faculty members who were recruited here because they are stars in their field," said Rotenberg.

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Georgia Tech has turned the case over to the Georgia attorney general for investigation of possible fraud.

An attorney for the couple, Martin Goldberg says the professors did not do anything improper and they will address the allegations with the state attorney general.

Sainfort was named head of the Division of Health Policy and Management in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in November of last year.

Jacko is the director of the Institute for Health Informatics at the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center. The center works to create more efficient health care systems.