A couple years before it closed, Mount Ida College received a financial lifeline from an obscure investment firm called Carlson Property LLC: a $12.5 million promissory note in June 2016, followed by a $4 million line of credit the following April.
The deals helped to keep Mount Ida afloat amid steep losses. But there was also a slight catch: As the college’s president, Barry Brown, disclosed to the board of trustees at the time, he had a prior relationship with Carlson.
