August 19, 2015, - 12:04 pm
Multi-Millionaire NFL Player: I Spent Govt College Aid $ on Sneakers for My Expensive Collection
A multi-millionaire NFL player who is signed to a $34 million contract just bragged that he used his need-based federal financial aid money to buy sneakers for his expensive sneaker collection worth thousands of dollars. But he’s not offering to pay the money back.
Detroit Lion DeAndre Levy is on a PR mission to tell you what a humanitarian he is . . . on your dime. He told AOL that he is auctioning off most of his 150-pair sneaker collection, worth more than $100,000, and he says the proceeds will go to Detroit charities benefiting (only Black) kids. But in a portion of his interview that no one seems to have notice, Levy says he spent his federal Pell Grant, meant to pay for college, on his sneakers. He also says he’s been collecting these expensive, valuable shoes since he was in high school.
What’s your favorite shoe of all time? The one you’ll have the hardest time letting go?
My favorite pair are the Vegas Sole Collector Dunk released in 2006, I think. They were like a piece of art. Haha, I spent most of my Pell Grant to get them a few years later after finally finding a pair. Probably will be the hardest pair to let go.
This means that he likely committed federal financial aid fraud and should be investigated by the Department of Education. Pell Grants are not loans. They are straight out grants of money and are supposed to be based on financial need. According to the Department’s website, the amount of the Pell Grants given
depends on your financial need. . . . The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain postbaccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education. Students may use their grants at any one of approximately 5,400 participating postsecondary institutions.
But Levy did not use his Pell Grant at a postsecondary institution. He used it to buy expensive sneakers. As I write this, Ebay has two listings of the Nike Vegas Dunk Sole Collector shoes (on which Levy says he spent his Pell Grant money) one selling for $1,200.00 and another for $799.00.
That Levy didn’t spend his Pell Grant on his education is fraud #1. Frauds #2 and #3 are that he clearly faked his financial aid paperwork in two ways, ripping you off. First, he clearly did not declare his expensive sneaker collection as an asset in his finanacial aid application (which, if he had, would likely have resulted in a denial of financial aid, including and especially Pell Grants). Again, he says he started collecting in high school. Second, he clearly didn’t have the financial need he claimed, or he wouldn’t have been able to spend the money on expensive shoes.
Levy should, at the very least, pay back the Pell Grant money plus interest. But he’s not offering to do that. He doesn’t believe he did anything wrong, using your money to buy expensive sneakers when he was supposed to use it to pay for college. That’s why he’s joking about it in a dismissive aside.
This year, Levy signed a nearly $34 million contract with the Detroit Lions, with a $12 million signing bonus and $13 to $20 million in guaranteed money (depending upon which news source you read). And that’s in addition to the multi-millions he’s already earned. In 2009, he signed a $1.8 million contract. In 2012, he signed a $1.927 million contract. In 2013, he signed a $9.75 million contract. (Details of his contracts are here and here.)
Levy can certainly afford to pay the money back plus interest multiple times and not even notice the difference. He should be behind bars. But nothing will happen to him. Just watch. Nobody even noticed or cared what he said about using the financial aid to buy luxury goods.
And the racist irony shouldn’t be lost on anyone where their forced investment in DeAndre Levy’s is going to end up. As I noted, Levy is using the proceeds of his sneaker collection to benefit charities which benefit only Black children in Detroit, as they seek to go to college. And, yet, the vast majority of taxpayers are White. They funded the Pell Grant giveaways to liars and frauds like DeAndre Levy so he could be a sneakerhead (as these sneaker collectors are called).
As I’ve told you before, federal financial aid went to fund Somalian alien ISIS terrorists in Minnesota, seeking to travel to Syria and fund ISIS activities with the remainder of their aid (I broke this story, then many others ripped me off without credit, per usual). This isn’t that bad. But it’s bad enough.
And the brazen bragging, laughing, and carefree attitude with which Levy dismisses his clear misuse of federal college grants is exactly the problem, whether it’s Islamic terrorists or multi-millionaire NFL players.
They all pretend to have a conscience for the “downtrodden.” But, in reality, they are just con artists who have no problem ripping you off to fund their lives.
Levy brags that he’s “done some unspeakable things to get some of these sneakers.” Clearly, he thinks bragging about committing financial aid fraud is speakable. Makes you wonder what he did that isn’t.
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BTW, in case you were wondering, Levy has a commonly-Jewish surname because, reportedly, a paternal grandparent or great-grandparent or some other paternal ancestor in generations past was Jewish. So what? Who cares? I don’t wanna claim him. These days, the rumor is that he is Muslim, given his long-time dedication to sporting a full beard.
Tags: College Financial Aid, DeAndre Levy, Deandre Levy financial aid fraud, Deandre Levy Pell Grants, Deandre Levy shoe collection, Deandre levy shoes, Deandre Levy sneaker collection, Deandre Levy Sneakerhead, Detroit Lions, Financial Aid Fraud, Pell Grants, sneakerhead, Sneakerheads
Levy brags that he’s “done some unspeakable things to get some of these sneakers.”
When I was studying in Detroit, I worked at Henry Ford Hsopital and was friends with an older, black nurse’s aide. Her son, despite tough surroundings, was set to go to Michigan State on a track scholarship. One morning after her night shift and she was returning home, she found her son’s body head-first in a trash can. He had been murdered, his throat slit, because he resisted when two thugs were mugging him for his sneakers.
DS_ROCKS! on August 19, 2015 at 12:13 pm