A spokesman for the family of Bernie and Jane O'Meara Sanders says the federal investigation into Burlington College's campus purchase has ended without charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont would not confirm the status of the investigation.

"I cannot confirm or deny the existence of any investigation and so I don’t have any comment or information to share," said Kraig LaPorte, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

O'Meara Sanders was president of Burlington College in 2010 when it purchased 32 acres in Burlington along Lake Champlain to use as a new campus.

More:Discrepancies emerge in Burlington College donor list

More:The unraveling of Jane Sanders' Burlington College legacy

The plan unraveled, however, after Jane Sanders left and the college struggled under its debt load.

Burlington College closed in May 2016, and its former campus is now being developed into a housing project.

Attorney Brady Toensing, the vice-chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, accused Sanders of bank fraud and requested a federal investigation. News surfaced in May 2017 about an FBI and U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

More:Sanders: 'My wife is about the most honest person I know'

Jeff Weaver, a spokesman for Jane Sanders and the former presidential campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders, emailed reporters Tuesday to announce the end of the investigation.

"Jane Sanders has been informed that the U.S. Attorney in Vermont has closed its investigation of the Burlington College land deal and has decided not to bring charges of any kind," Weaver said in the email.

"Jane is grateful that the investigation has come to an end," Weaver continued. "As she has said from the beginning she has done nothing wrong and Jane is pleased that the matter has now come to a conclusion."

Weaver said in a telephone interview that the news came "in the last couple of days" and that he did not have a document to share. Weaver believes that there is no further investigation into the college.

Toensing said in a statement that the Sanders family owes the public an explanation.

"It is a shame Burlington College Students, the Catholic Diocese, hard-working Vermont tradesmen, and others lost so much as a result of Ms. Sanders’s misconduct, but I am pleased that the matter was professionally investigated and assessed," Toensing said in an email.

"Criminal standards are extremely high," Toensing continued, "but now that the investigation is over, I look forward to a full explanation from Senator Sanders and his wife about the financial discrepancies in her loan application and the Senator’s involvement in procuring the loan."

What was the Burlington College land deal?

Under the leadership of Jane O'Meara Sanders, Burlington College bought 32 acres from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in late 2010.

The price was $10 million. It was a bold step for the tiny college with an endowment of $100,784, annual revenue of approximately $3.6 million, and 192 students.

To make the deal work, Burlington College took a $3.65 million mortgage from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington and $6.7 million in tax-exempt bonds.

The plan was to more than double student enrollment and to raise money through an ambitious capital campaign. Sanders left the college 10 months later.

More:Burlington College considered selling land within a year of property deal

What were the unanswered questions about the land deal?

Observers and some former trustees have raised questions about whether Sanders misled the bank about the college's donors.

A spreadsheet obtained through a public-records request shows $2.6 million in confirmed money and another $2.5 million in unconfirmed pledges. Some of the donors questioned the pledges on that list.

More:Discrepancies emerge in Burlington College donor list

Why did Burlington College close?

Sanders has said she left Burlington College in a hopeful financial condition.

"There were no problems when I left. It was great. It was poised for soaring," Sanders said in a 2015 interview with the Burlington Free Press during her husband's presidential campaign. "I have no doubt that had we worked out a good transition plan, or had I stayed, that it would have been wonderful."

After Sanders left, the college struggled to fulfill the plan for the new land.

When fundraising fell short of expectations, Sanders' successors attempted to stabilize college finances by selling 27.5 acres of its 32-acre campus to a developer.

Burlington College shut down in May 2016, citing the "crushing weight of debt." The school left nearly $1 million in debt and unpaid bills.

More:Who lost when Burlington College failed?

What was the FBI investigating?

Investigators were said to be focused on Burlington College's land purchase.

FBI agents looked through the college's records and interviewed former staff members and trustees. One former trustee testified before a grand jury in Burlington in October 2017.

The FBI also may have looked into allegations that the college misused a $70,000 estate gift from a former faculty member. The FBI was in touch with the executor of the estate, attorney Norm Blais said last year.

Without comments from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont or the FBI, the full scope of the investigation may never be known.

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum.