A group of fake nursing schools defrauded mostly Caribbean immigrants out of thousands of dollars and gave them sham certificates,New York’s attorney general said on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
NY attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said the five schools, in Brooklyn, in Queens and on Long Island, defrauded students of US$6 million, according to AP. Prosecutors say some of the schools collaborated with a nursing programme inJamaica to provide false documents.
AP said that eleven people who the authorities said owned or operated the schools were indicted on charges ranging from grand larceny and scheming to defrauding. Eight were arrested on Thursday morning; three others are being sought.
AP said that according to an indictment unsealed in State Supreme Court inBrooklyn, the defendants fraudulently claimed that students who completed the programmes would be eligible for the New York State Nursing Board examination to become registered or licensed practical nurses.
However, AP said that the schools were not authorized to operate inNew Yorkas nursing programmes, to operate as branches of international institutions or to function as tutoring centres.
Students forked out US$7,000 to US$20,000 to attend programmes at the fake nursing schools, prosecutors said, and students also worked full time while spending up to two years in the schemes, according to AP.
The report said that the attorney general’s office launched an undercover operation with the State Education Department to investigate the schools, which operated from 2006 to February 2011 and were located in Brooklyn and Queens, and in Floral Park and Franklin Square inNassauCounty.
The attorney general’s office said four of the schools had been shut down and the authorities were seeking to close the fifth, AP said.
