In response to the online sale of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s ’83 student file, the University filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Friday, seeking court orders to block the sale of the documents and to mandate their return. The complaint names the defendant as Gary Zimet, who currently has the documents listed for sale on his website for $85,000.
Applications for enrollment submitted to the University, as well as communications from families regarding their students’ performance, are owned by the University, and “no one is authorized to transfer, remove or otherwise alienate any record” from student files, the complaint states. Kennedy’s student file was kept in a secure area of Sayles Hall, and access to the file was limited.
“The only way documents from (Kennedy’s file) could be removed from Brown’s control is if they had been stolen,” the University alleges in the complaint. Because the documents were stolen, the University is seeking court orders to prevent Zimet from selling or duplicating the documents, and to force their return, the complaint states.
“Zimet has refused to return the stolen items owned by Brown or to remove the enrollment application” from his website, the complaint alleges.
