Monday, August 04, 2008

MD from St. Regis Medical School?

If so, you might be in some hot water:
The network of bogus universities was a family-run venture based in rural Washington state, but the criminal enterprise spanned the globe, with its operators allegedly paying bribes to Liberian officials and selling fake PhDs and MDs as far away as Iran.

They were busted by state and federal officials—among them a Secret Service investigator posing as a shadowy Syrian seeking a bogus chemistry degree—with the help of a local physics professor.

For the last four years, U. of I. at Urbana-Champaign professor and Fermilab physicist George Gollin helped unravel the scheme that has resulted in eight guilty pleas this year and could spark further charges against hundreds of people who may have bought and used bogus diplomas.

...

Degrees were sold in areas like oncology, dentistry and engineering, and some buyers reportedly worked for state and federal governments, according to the Spokane, Wash., U.S. attorney's office.
I hope those found guilty get their just deserts.

-Wes

Reference: Here's the list of names originally reported by the Spokesman Review.

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