Mary Ellen Durso, Quinnipiac Law School’s registrar, faces sentencing today in New Haven’s U.S. District Court after allegations of conspiracy, bank fraud, and filing fraudulent tax returns.

A federal grand jury charged Durso, a Milford, Conn., resident, along with a couple from Weston, Conn., with conspiracy to refinance the couple’s Florida villa under Durso’s name, according to court records.

An FBI press release from July 2010 first identified Durso, 55, who was indicted on charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, and filing false tax returns.

According to the release, Durso faces five counts of fraudulent tax return, which carry a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment per count. The indictment charges Durso with false tax returns from 2004-2008.

Durso allegedly served as the straw owner of a Hillsboro, Fla. condo “in order to obtain fraudulent loans proceeds for the benefit of [Steven]Kottage and [Genaro] Hathaway,” according to the indictment.

Quinnipiac University has no comment on the matter, spokesperson John Morgan said.

Morgan would not say whether Durso remains employed by the university, but Durso does remain in the Quinnipiac e-mail directory.

Kottage and Hathaway face additional charges of wire fraud relating to a home on Fire Island, N.Y.

The charges come in the wake of the FBI’s formation of the Connecticut Mortgage Fraud Task Force, created in July 2009.

Durso is currently listed as the assistant dean of academic affairs & registrar of the School of Law. She’s been employed by Quinnipiac since the law school’s full accreditation in 1995.
Kottage, Hathaway & Durso Indictment