Former Governor Mitt Romney has parted ways with controversial fundraiser Robert Lichfield, Romney’s Utah finance chair, according to an exclusive report from radaronline. This comes on the heals of the departure of Romney’s national finance co-chair, Alan B. Fabian, who was indicted in 32 million dollar fraud scheme.

According to Radar:

Mitt Romney has asked his Utah finance committee co-chair, Robert Lichfield, who is affiliated with a controversial network of schools for troubled teens and has been dogged by allegations of abuse and fraud, to step down, Radar has learned.

Ken Kay, the president of the Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP), a nonprofit group co-founded by Lichfield that provides consulting services to schools specializing in “behavior modification” for wayward teens, said in an e-mail that Romney has asked Lichfield to stop participating in fundraising activities for the campaign.

Lichfield was named in a June 2007 complaint filed in federal court in Utah by the families of 133 children who have attended schools associated with WWASP, alleging that they were subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. One plaintiff, Chase Wood, claims he was fondled, forced to eat his own vomit, and locked in a dog cage at the Cross Creek Center for Boys, a school that Lichfield founded in the late 1970s.

“Gov. Romney has asked Mr. Lichfield to step down and not be involved in any more fundraising until the lawsuit is resolved in the positive, which we are confident will happen,” Kay said.

Last week Randall Hinton, an educational counselor who has worked at Cross Creek and many other schools affiliated with WWASP, was convicted of third-degree assault and false imprisonment for slamming the head of a 15-year-old student at Royal Gorge Academy in Colorado into a stairwell and forcing a 17-year-old to lie flat on his stomach for so long he had to vomit. Hinton faces up to three years in prison.

In his defense, Mr. Kay had this to say:

Kay, a longtime associate of Lichfield’s, says WWASP simply provides marketing and other business services to schools, does not deal directly with students, and is not responsible for any mistreatment.

Fabian’s indictment (see above link):

alleges that Fabian used nearly $4 million of the money to set up a nonprofit company in Baltimore called the Centre for Management and Technology; used an additional $500,000 to buy real estate in North Carolina; and used $600,000 to pay for private jet travel for himself, his family and his pets.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of millions of dollars’ worth of assets if Fabian is convicted. If the money he allegedly took cannot be found, the government would seek forfeiture of other assets. The list includes funds in a Swiss bank account, beach property in North Carolina, two Audis and a Lexus, a yacht called “Blessing on the Sea,” and the assets of the Centre for Management and Technology, according to court documents.