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Philly professor spent nearly $200K in fed research funds at strip clubs

A university professor from Philadelphia blew nearly $200,000 of federal research dollars at strip clubs in the City of Brotherly Love — and now his former employer is stuck with the bill, a report said Monday.

Drexel University settled with federal prosecutors for $190,000 on Monday to avoid a potential lawsuit from the Justice Department, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The settlement was an effort to recoup funds that the former head of Drexel’s electrical engineering department, Chikaodinaka Nwankpa, squandered at topless bars including Club Risque and Cheerleaders in South Philly, according to the report.

The bills racked up by Nwankpa were spent on dancers for “goods and services” at the clubs over a decade from 2007 to 2017, federal prosecutors alleged.

Prosecutors discovered the misspending in 2017, according to the report.

When he was confronted with the improper spending, Nwankpa resigned and agreed to pay $55,328 for the bill, the Inquirer reported.

A spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office told the newspaper the strip club spending was a “shameful misuse of public funds.”

“This is an example of flagrant and audacious fraud,” the spokesperson said.