COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Suspended running back Maurice Clarett has dropped a federal complaint seeking a $2.5 million fine against Ohio State for releasing information from an NCAA investigation to prosecutors.

In his court motion filed Monday, Clarett said he is still seeking relief from the U.S. Department of Education, which oversees the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act he accuses the school of violating.

U.S. District Judge George Smith granted the dismissal but chided Clarett for seeking the federal action at the same time he filed the administrative complaint on Oct. 10.

“OSU has presumably expended resources responding to the motion to intervene, and it seems unfair at the eleventh hour to allow Mr. Clarett to dodge a potential adverse result in this lawsuit and on a whim shift the focus of this matter to another forum,” the judge said.

Messages left Tuesday with Ohio State officials weren’t immediately returned.

Clarett’s attorney, Percy Squire, had filed motions in municipal and federal court seeking to prevent information obtained during the NCAA probe from being used by city prosecutors. Clarett is charged with filing a false police report in April after a dealership’s car he was borrowing was broken into.

Smith said that if he had allowed the case to go forward, he would not have ordered a state court to ban evidence in a criminal trial.

Clarett was suspended for his sophomore season for NCAA violations of accepting money from a family friend and lying about it to investigators.

AP-ES-11-04-03 1309EST