Brian McGinn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment on the complaint.

Thomas received more than 160 pages of records from the university’s advancement office, which handles fundraising. The records consist of a list of applicants to the university whose parents are donors and active alumni. The advancement office kept track of these applicants through the admissions process.

The records show that the advancement office actively tried to convince members of the administration to change admissions decisions for applicants who had been wait-listed or denied. Because of federal student privacy laws, students’ names were redacted — which means it is unclear what effect, if any, fundraising officials had on the admissions process.

U.Va. denies that the advancement office has any contact with people in the admissions office. The records indicate, however, that people in the advancement office were reaching out to high-ranking staff members elsewhere in the administration — including Sean Jenkins, senior assistant to U.Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan — to lobby on behalf of well-connected applicants.