COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri is investigating how federal grants are spent on campus after a wildlife biologist’s complaint to the federal government and a subsequent lawsuit.

Assistant professor Dylan Kesler’s False Claims Act suit alleged that two colleagues in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences improperly paid their spouses from pools of federal scientific research money while the women remained home with newborns.

University officials called Kesler’s complaint “unfounded” after the Justice Department decided to not pursue the case.
Accounting records reviewed by The Associated Press show that soon after university officials met with federal prosecutors, a campus fiscal office transferred nearly $60,000 in state funds to replace federal grants paid to one of the women.