MIAMI (AP) — Federal authorities in Florida have charged 25 folks with taking part in a wire fraud scheme that created an unlawful shortcut for aspiring nurses to get licensed and discover employment.
(*25*) unsealed federal grand jury indictments allege the defendants took half in a rip-off that offered greater than 7,600 fraudulent nursing diploma diplomas from three Florida-based nursing colleges, federal officers mentioned throughout a news convention in Miami on Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors mentioned the scheme additionally concerned transcripts from the nursing colleges for folks looking for licenses and jobs as registered nurses and licensed sensible/vocational nurses. The defendants every resist 20 years in jail.
“Not only is this a public safety concern, it also tarnishes the reputation of nurses who actually complete the demanding clinical and course work required to obtain their professional licenses and employment,” mentioned U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe.
Lapointe added that “a fraud scheme like this erodes public trust in our health care system.”
The faux diplomas and transcripts certified those that bought them to sit down for the nationwide nursing board examination. If they handed, they had been in a position to acquire licenses and jobs in numerous states, prosecutors mentioned.
The colleges concerned — Siena College, Palm Beach School of Nursing and Sacred Heart International Institute — at the moment are closed.
Some of those that bought levels had been from South Florida’s Haitian-American group, together with some with reputable LPN licenses who needed to turn out to be registered nurses, the Miami Herald reported.
“Health care fraud is nothing new to South Florida, as many scammers see this as a way to earn easy, though illegal, money,” appearing Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough mentioned Wednesday.
He mentioned it’s notably disturbing that greater than 7,600 folks across the nation obtained faux credentials and had been probably in important well being care roles treating sufferers.
The promoting and buying of nursing diplomas and transcripts to “willing but unqualified individuals” is against the law that “potentially endangers the health and safety of patients and insults the honorable profession of nursing,” mentioned Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar. Pérez mentioned investigators haven’t discovered, nonetheless, that any of the nurses brought on hurt to sufferers.
The college students paid a complete of $114 million for the faux levels between 2016 and 2021, the newspaper reported. About 2,400 of the 7,600 college students finally handed their licensing exams — primarily in New York, federal officers mentioned. Nurses licensed in New York are allowed to observe in Florida and plenty of different states.
Many of these folks might lose their certification however probably gained’t be criminally charged, federal officers mentioned.
