Florida nursing schools sold 7,600 fake diplomas worth more than $100 million, feds say

[Historic NY]

Three Florida nursing schools sold thousands of fake nursing diplomas worth millions in a scheme that allowed aspiring nurses to bypass the required training to become licensed in the profession, federal prosecutors alleged Thursday.

Siena College, Palm Beach School of Nursing and Sacred Heart International Institute – all based in south Florida – combined to distribute more than 7,600 fraudulent diplomas worth over $100 million or roughly $15,000 per diploma, federal prosecutors said. All schools are now defunct.

Twenty-five defendants, including school directors and diploma recipients, were charged in the scheme and each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Attorneys for defendants were not listed in a federal court database Thursday.

The Department of Justice along with the Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General carried out the investigation, dubbed Operation Nightingale. Prosecutors said the scheme put patient safety at risk as required training programs exist to “protect the public from harm by setting minimum qualifications and competencies.”
The charges in nursing diploma case

[link:https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/26/florida-nursing-schools-sold-thousands-fake-diplomas-100-million/11126832002/|


[link:https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraudulent-nursing-diploma-scheme-leads-federal-charges-against-25-defendants|]

[Hekate]

1. Terrifying

[Takket]

2. Geez. There was just a report on here a few weeks ago about thousands of fake

Vax cards coming out of some office in FL too. Desantis has really turned that place into a lawless paradise for grifters.

[DENVERPOPS]

22. No wonder

all the white collar criminals are flocking to Florida.....Along with corporations, politicians, you name it.....

Land of the free and home to all major grifters...........

Can you imagine, Thousands of R.N.'s taking care of people with absolutely no four year Nursing degree or clinical training??????????

And the highest %age of the people holding massive school loans, were duped into phony degree programs for tens of thousands of dollars in tuition, with absolutely no accredited courses for the degrees offered by a bunch of grifting so called Universities and Colleges....

AND, you still see all these phony colleges and universities continuing to advertise on TV ads...................Un-believeable........

These schools for years gave these corrupt loans to students to come to their worthless schools, then the schools sold the loans to the Federal Government, they collected the money and ran. The federal government was left holding all the loans. The students started going bankrupt on the loans, and the congress that allowed these schools to exist, suddenly realized what an incredibly huge amount had been scammed, and they were left with the bill. Sooooo, Congress, not wanting to be humiliated for letting this happen, passed emergency legislation that these students couldn't go bankrupt on the immense amount of phony school loans. The Students were all stuck, with ZERO education, and a massive loan that they could never hope to pay off.

I am not talking about the students who actually got school loans to pay for legitimate courses and real degrees, or some kind of value for their money.........

Once again, private corporations getting all the profits, and having the taxpayers foot the bill......In a way, not that much difference between these fraudulent schools, and the S & L Crisis in the 80,s. The taxpayers picked up the entire tab for the S & L corruption.

[LuckyCharms]

3. But they passed the national nursing board exam?

Without formal training and with illegitimate transcripts and diplomas?

[getagrip_already]

21. the tests are likely available on the intertubes...

Most licensing and certification exams have their full question lists available for purchase from test prep websites.

These aren't just similar questions. They are the exact questions.

It makes a mockery of certifications from microsoft, vmware, cisco etc. Professioanal licensing exams are also targeted, and somewhat easier since the question pools are smaller.

But the questions can be bought for a smallish fee.

These companies will routinely send in people to take the exams with the sole purpose of capturing the questions.

Just google an exam and you will find a shady prep course.

[LuckyCharms]

23. Thanks for the info. n/t

[FarPoint]

4. The student still had to go thru the Board of Nursing...

Can't get a nursing liscense without taking a Board Exam and Pass....This this Liscensing is strickly regulated.

I can't see overall the public was at risk....

[Alexander Of Assyria]

6. Florida board? What board isnt politicized and corrupted yet?

[Maru Kitteh]

16. NCLEX, independently administered. See below.

[SheltieLover]

5. Were exam scores & licenses included?

[Maru Kitteh]

14. The NCLEX is the one thing they wouldn't be able to get around. They had to pass NCLEX

legitimately because NCLEX is administered off-site and independently under some very strictly enforced rules. They're about one step removed from requiring you to show up naked, really. No paper, writing instruments, calculators, phones, smart watches etc. & so on are allowed. You're not allowed a break until two hours into the exam and those are just as tightly controlled. You have to bio-scan out of the exam if you do want a break. It's tight.

I didn't have to go through any of that because I'm older than dirt but it was very tight when I took it - before the invention of smart devices.

[Initech]

7. This is what happens when conservatives don't regulate industry.

And it's also a huge reason why there's so many scammers and hucksters and grifters and con artists out there. Time to end the free ride.

[Evolve Dammit]

15. Amen. I've had more than enough real corruption. Not conspiracy theories, but real.

[appalachiablue]

20. ++

[AnotherMother4Peace]

8. Sounds like Florida is a hotbed for SCAMS: I bought an extended new car warranty through

my credit union. I didn't realize, until I needed it, that it was a Florida insurance company. Long story short it was a SCAM. They didn't want to honor it, even though the repair was supposedly covered. I googled the company, and yep - a lot of complaints and pissed off people. The insurance company/credit union eventually made good because I wouldn't let it go.

The moral of the story is don't trust companies that originate out of Florida.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. One of the perps is named "Woosvelt Predestin" Woosvelt? Baba Wawa reporting?

[not fooled]

13. The fake name generator was having a bad day?

USA! USA! or at least Flori-duh! Flori-duh!

The American Business Plan: run a scam.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. Christ. I think we (indirectly) hired one of them.

It would explain a lot. Luckily she was a temp hire/traveler and is gone now. It looks like they have all the names of the fake graduates so maybe I'll look her up.

[Kali]

11. remember darkangel?

trolled DU for years. supposedly a nursing student/grad from Florida. this story always brings up "fond" memories.

[Maru Kitteh]

18. Oh Lawd. YES. I DO!

[Aussie105]

12. It is the American way . . .

Money buys you anything.

Now, I want to be a doctor, but 6 years of training doesn't appeal. Where do apply. And how much?

[Evolve Dammit]

17. All of them Santos University grads? Classes and exams are for suckers and losers, right?

[jaxexpat]

19. Florida is the landing spot for many professionals from overseas.

Who could blame them? Where else is the state postcard a photo is a scantily clad woman about to be eaten by an alligator?

They were educated and licensed in their home country but the US does not recognize their credentials. So they pay the money and get their accreditation. They pass the test because they already have the education. Done deal. Slipped past the jingoistic national standards by taking and passing the test. Albanian nurse becomes American nurse for $15,000. A deal!

My top concern is how well they might know the American physician "lingua franca". Maybe that's why my nurse told me to ignore the doctors' dietary recommendation. She said she knew what he "really meant". Actually the doctor was the "foreigner". Thailand, I think, she was from Daytona Beach. Hospitals are a crap shoot.