ATLANTA -- The lawyer for the former president of Morris Brown College said Friday that his client is innocent of charges that she and a top aid swindled the school and its students out of millions of dollars.

Drew Findling, the attorney hired by Dolores Cross, held a news conference to respond to the 34-count indictment that alleges that the former school administrator misspent education funds.

More Resources VIDEO: Carol Sbarge reports-Lawyer Comments VIDEO: John Pruitt reports Tech Students Will Have to Foot Tuition Bill in Cash Morris Brown Fraud Hotline: 404-562-6053

"She will plead not guilty to each and every allegation," he said. "She's a 68-year-old woman who has accomplished a tremendous amount in her lifetime."

Cross and her financial aid director, Parvesh Singh, were named in a 34-count indictment that was returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury and announced Thursday by federal prosecutors.

The government is charging that the two swindled federal loan programs for more than $5 million, signing up hundreds of students for loans they didn't want, using the money to pay the school's bills, federal investigators said Thursday.

Cross was president of the historically-black Atlanta college from 1999 to 2002.

Misspending Alleged at Cash-Strapped School

The indictment says Cross increased school spending by more than $8 million her first year, and then requested fraudulent loans to pay for it. When the school's financial troubles were uncovered in 2002, Cross was fired and the school lost its accreditation, nearly shuttering it. Enrollment plunged from about 2,000 students to as low as 80 students at one point.

Federal investigators said Thursday that the college was not to blame for Cross' and Singh's fraud. They apparently hid the fraud from the school's board of trustees, and Morris Brown workers have helped with the investigation, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.

Cross and Singh, 62, are due to appear in court early next week, Nahmias said. Singh was fired soon after Cross in 2002, he said.

The two live out of town but are expected to return to Atlanta next week to face arraignment.

Singh's attorney told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his client disputed the charges and planned to fight them.

Singh has been a "selfless educator who has spent his entire life working to make student aid work for the benefit of poor students," Ed Garland, the attorney for Singh, told the AJC. "He conducted himself in strict accordance with the rules established for the administration of student aid."

Findling said Cross has spent her professional career trying to help low-income students obtain an education. He said when she came to the school she did not realize how financially troubled the school was or that its accreditation was at risk.

Also, Findling said the administrator increased spending to fix the school's violations that were threatening its accreditation. But he did not comment on allegations by federal prosecutors that Cross spent excessively to fund expenditures for housekeepers, speechwriters and personal trips.

"She did not commit any crime," Findling said. "She did not conspire to commit any crime."

Possible Fraud Victims Sought

Federal investigators asked former students to call an Atlanta hotline to determine if any student loans were illegally taken out their names.

Authorities said many of the students were unaware that the loans had been assigned to them until they applied for credit elsewhere and told that they had defaulted on a federal school loan.

The students who may have been the subject of fraud were asked to call 404-562-6053.

wsbtv.com Staff Writer and Channel 2 Action News reporter Carol Sbarge contributed to this report.