A donor in Salt Lake City who made a multimillion-dollar pledge to a local college last year is now facing felony charges of fraud and passing bad checks — leaving the academic institution without the money it was promised, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Salt Lake Tribune.

Warren Kyle Foote, a 28-year-old real-estate developer, pledged $3.4-million to Westminster College in the spring of 2007 to endow an institute at the business school that was to be named for him. In a press release at the time, Westminster described Mr. Foote as a “successful entrepreneur” who “owns and operates a number of successful enterprises.” Prosecutors now say those businesses were fraudulent and that he was at the time two years out of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Laura Murphy, a spokeswoman for the college, who wrote the release, said the institution does not routinely perform background checks on donors. “We don’t grill people [by asking], ‘Where did you get your money and how are you going to pay us?’” she said.

When Mr. Foote failed to make a promised $1-million payment on the pledge last September, Westminster quietly severed the pledge agreement. It is currently seeking a new donor to support its Institute for New Enterprise, which opened last year.

Mr. Foote told the Tribune that his intention was always to pay on his pledge to the college.