Background

In our original investigation, The DePaulia reached out to Ponsetto regarding her role in the Wintrust Arena naming rights deal. The deal is worth an estimated $22 million. We also reached out to DePaul Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Bethke, for clarification.

In both cases, we were routed through DePaul’s public relations department. We were told Ponsetto was too busy to speak with us and Bethke was away from his office for the week.

Ultimately, on March 9, the university said that Ponsetto “was not required to complete a conflict of interest form.”