Feds Discover Four Massive Student Aid Fraud Rings
April 04, 2013
Federal investigators discovered four separate crime rings in the Detroit metro area that defrauded the government™s financial aid programs to the sum of $1 million, reports The Detroit Free Press.
The U.S. Attorneys’ Office has charged eleven individuals involved in schemes that targeted distance education providers, where students need not be physically present in class. According to court documents, the phony aid applications involved mostly Detroit residents who pretended to take college courses from the University of Phoenix and Virginia-based Strayer University, but instead used the free college money for personal expenses. The groups operated independently of one another between 2006 and 2010.
“Taxpayers fund federal financial assistance programs to permit needy students to obtain a higher education,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a statement. “Stealing these funds robs students of educational opportunities and cheats members of the public from their investment in an educated population.”
Related Links:
The Detroit Free Press
Michelle Cormier Mott
share