Former PBAU president sentenced for money laundering at Arkansas university

Photographer: Brandon Kruse/Palm Beach Post/ File photo: Lu Hardin in 2009
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Posted: 09/26/2011

By: By Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - Former Palm Beach Atlantic University President Lu Hardin was sentenced this morning to five years probation and 200 hours of community service for fraud and money laundering.

Hardin, 60, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Moody in federal court in Little Rock, Ark. The probation sentences will run concurrently.

Hardin admitted he falsified documents that allowed him to make early withdrawals of $198,000 from a $300,000 bonus approved in 2008 by the University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees while he was that school's president.

He acknowledged at that time that he was deep in debt as a result of his gambling addiction.

Twenty months after serving as PBAU president, Hardin abruptly resigned his post in March and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.

Hardin faced up to 30 years in prison.

PBAU declined to comment on Hardin's sentencing.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for us to comment about a matter that's taking place in another state," said Becky Peeling, a university spokeswoman.