untergang der titelmühlen, aufdeckung durch vorgetäuschten titelkauf, kauftitel dr

hab noch was nettes im netz gefunden
wurde vor einer ganzen weile mal offiziell von den behörden veröffentlicht

den titelhandel kann man doch einfach stoppen

so klappts


Secret Service’s Fourth Undercover Purchase of a “Degree” via the Internet

53. On 4/19/05, SA Ross, acting in a U/C capacity, logged into the “James Monroe University” website at jamesmonroeuniversity.ac. At the web site, SA Ross submitted an “application” and “evaluation” under the U/C alias of “Mohammed Syed”. SA Ross completed an online form at the web site in which he included supposed “biographical information” for “applicant” “Mohammed Syed”. SA Ross stated that Mohammed Syed has no formal education, but has obtained multiple hours of training in chemistry and in engineering with the Syrian Army. SA Ross indicated in the application that Mohammed Syed’s work experience primarily consists of a fifteen year career in the Syrian Army as a chemist and chemical engineer. SA Ross further indicated that Mohammed Syed is still a Syrian citizen, but that Syed is currently visiting the United States and would like to quickly obtain “college degrees” so that he could find employment and obtain an H1-B Visa to remain in the United States. SA Ross submitted “Mohammed Syed’s” fictional “application” for review by “James Monroe evaluators”. SA Ross also subsequently created two fictional “letters of reference” purporting to be written in support of “Mohammed Syed”. SA Ross forwarded the letters via facsimile to the fax number provided on the “James Monroe University” website, (202) 318-0568. SA Ross included an U/C e-mail address of masyedholland @ juno.com as his contact information for “Mohammed Syed”.
54. On 5/13/05, SA Ross received an e-mail to his U/C e-mail account for “Mohammed Syed” at masyedholland @ juno.com, from “James” at forward1 @ university-services.net. “James” stated that he was an “advisor” for “James Monroe University”, and he asked for additional information from “Mohammed Syed”. SA Ross was asked to provide further specifics about which particular degree he was seeking. SA Ross replied to the e-mail from “James”, stating that “Mohammed Syed” would like both a BS, and a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering.

55. On 5/14/05, SA Ross received an e-mail to his “Mohammed Syed” U/C e-mail account at masyedholland @ juno.com, from “advisor James” at forward1 @ university-services.net. The e-mail informed “Syed” that he would be unable to obtain a chemical engineering degree because “James Monroe” does not have “faculty” in that specific area. “Advisor James” informed “Mohammed” that instead, he would be able to obtain “degrees” in chemistry, environmental engineering, or both.
56. On 5/17/05, SA Ross received an e-mail to his U/C e-mail account for Mohammed Syed at masyedholland @ juno.com, from “James” at forward1 @ university-services.net. The e-mail stated that “Syed” qualified for multiple possible “degrees.” The entire text of the e-mail instructing “Mohammed Syed” about how to proceed and how to pay, is included below:
Dear Mohammed,
Thank you for submitting your application to James Monroe University for our consideration. After reviewing* your PLA Report and other submitted information, our Office of Admissions is pleased to announce that you have been approved for the degree:
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
Master of Science in Chemistry
James Monroe University takes pride in its graduates. Your evaluation placed you in the top percentage of applicants, and you can be very proud of the education you have attained through nontraditional means.
Multi-Nationally Accredited and recognized the world over, James Monroe University looks forward to adding your name to its list of high-achieving alumni. We know your degree will enable you to take a giant leap forward in your career while giving you a personal sense of achievement and satisfaction. We look forward to hearing how your James Monroe University degree changes your life.

All that remains is for you to pay the graduation fee. You may pay online at: university-services.net
We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal, bank wire transfers, and checks. Once your is graduation fee is paid, your degree and supporting documents will be shipped to you by courier.
If you'd prefer to pay by phone please e-mail us your phone number and best time to call and a payment agent will contact you.
Although we do not anticipate an increase in fees, please note that the fees quoted at the website today are guaranteed for 30 days only. If you respond after this time period you will be responsible for any additional fees that may be in effect.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of further assistance. We look forward to welcoming you to the James Monroe University Alumni!
Sincerely,
James Hunter, Admissions
James Monroe University
mymail.marketrends.net/src

SA Ross then linked to the above-listed payment site, and filled out the payment request form under the name “Mohammed Syed”. The payment form provided the opportunity for “Syed” to purchase as many “degrees” as he wanted. SA Ross purchased a BS in Chemistry, a Masters in Chemistry, and a Masters in Environmental Engineering. The total cost for the three “degrees” was listed as $1277.00. The payment form also provided the opportunity for “Mohammed Syed” to “backdate” any of his “degrees” and choose whatever date of completion he would like. SA Ross indicated that the BS in Chemistry should be dated 2002, the MS in Chemistry in 2004 and the Masters of Engineering dated 2005. SA Ross submitted his payment form, the Mohammed Syed U/C credit card was charged, and the transaction completed.


95. On 7/7/05, SA Ross, SA Kemppainen and Your Affiant conducted a surveillance and undercover operation in which we met in a U/C capacity with suspect Richard Novak using video and audio recording equipment. SA’s Ross, Kemppainen and Your Affiant met with suspect Richard Novak beginning upon his arrival at approximately 1:00 p.m. in the Mayflower Hotel Suite 230.


96. Shortly after meeting Richard Novak upon his arrival to the U/C meeting, SA’s Ross, Kemppainen and Your Affiant engaged Mr. Novak in a “business meeting” in which we continued SA Ross’ previously established undercover story that we are a business group who is attempting to establish a new “online university”. Because Novak had previously offered to “consult” and “help” SA Ross in this regard, we indicated to Mr. Novak that we would first like to ask him numerous questions about the “business” of online schools, and specifically about his role working for “the Board” who, Novak had already told SA Ross, is the owner of “St. Regis University”, “James Monroe University”, and “Robertstown University.” During the initial hour of the U/C meeting, Novak re-confirmed his previous statements to SA Ross that he is the individual who does “all of the international work” in reference to establishing “accreditation” and “recognition” from foreign governments for Novak’s clients, “the Board” and their “online universities”. Mr. Novak indicated that “the Board” who owns the aforementioned “St. Regis, JMU, and Robertstown”, were originally responsible for paying to send him to Liberia to establish a presence there and to arrange “accreditation”. Further, Novak indicated early in our meeting that his “Liberian contact” is in fact the Deputy Chief of Mission to the U.S. for Liberia, and works out of the Liberian Embassy. When describing the key to successfully doing business with Liberia, Novak referenced the fact that one needs to make sure that money finds its way “into pockets” in order to succeed. Mr. Novak indicated to our U/C group that he believed that he could coordinate with the appropriate Liberian government officials, in terms of both payments and “paperwork”, to help our group...


97. Continuing in our U/C meeting, SA Ross provided paperwork to Richard Novak. SA Ross indicated that our group wanted him to sign a “Non-Disclosure contract” before further discussing our business plans. Richard Novak agreed, and signed the document as provided by SA Ross at approximately 2:30 p.m. The real purpose for the “Non Disclosure document” was two-fold: to obtain two signature samples from Mr. Novak; and, to further add to the perceived “legitimacy” of our U/C “business group”. It should be noted that the signatures provided by Richard Novak on our U/C “Non-Disclosure” document appear similar to the “Richard Novak” signatures on three notarized documents previously obtained in this investigation: the Diploma Authentication Attestation, Transcript Authentication Attestation, and Degree Authentication Attestation, each sent in the document packet from “James Monroe” to S/A Ross’ U/C “student” alias of Anthony Gwynn. At that time, Mr. Novak further discussed with our U/C group the details of his historical relationship with “the Board” or “the SRU (St. Regis University) group”. Novak informed us that St. Regis “was huge”, but eventually became too high profile and became the focus of such individuals as John Bear, George Gollin, and Alan Contreras, who worked to attack “the SRU group”. Novak stated that eventually, because of the efforts of Bear, Gollin et al, the media attention combined with the pressure on the U.S. government to take action against “St. Regis” was too high. Novak said that St. Regis then lost their “accreditation” because of financial pressure placed upon the Liberian government from the U.S. government. Thereafter, “the Board” was forced to transition their primary “online university” resources from “St. Regis” to “James Monroe University”. Novak stated that he at one point received a letter on behalf of “the Board”, from Isaac Roland, the Deputy Minister of Education for Liberia. This letter from Roland reportedly stated that official Liberian recognition of “James Monroe University” and “Robertstown University” will continue


98. As the U/C meeting with Richard Novak progressed, Novak continued to provide details of “St. Regis University’s”(SRU) historical relationship with Liberia. Novak stated that “SRU” operated a small office in Monrovia, set up by Novak himself, for the purpose of appearing to have a real presence there. However, Novak stated that the office was basically there simply for appearances, and that “the Board” ran all of the “school’s” operations from the U.S., specifically from Washington State and Idaho. Novak stated that a “key” to operating as an “online school” is the governmental accreditation. He indicated that the only thing separating an “online university” from a “degree mill” is the formal accreditation. However, Novak was clear throughout the meeting that a “school” does not need to meet any formal requirements to obtain that “accreditation” other than meeting and providing payment to the right people within a government, and then setting up a small office in that country to look as though business is being done there. Novak also advised at one point that the primary legal concern in engaging in this form of “online school”, would be a possible prosecution for fraud. However, he assured our U/C group that no law enforcement authorities have ever attempted to investigate “the Board” or their involvement with SRU/JMU/etc. When questioned about the income tax implications of running one of these “schools”, Novak stated that it is important to devise a method of “beating” the IRS. He advised that foreign bank accounts are a good method for processing and holding payment funds as collected from “students” via credit card and “PayPal” accounts. Novak said that “the Board” specifically used an account in Dominica, but he said that they lost that money because the Dominican bank was closed down due to money laundering. Novak indicated that he does not believe that “the Board” has ever declared any of their online income for tax purposes. Novak stated that he has not handled any of the foreign banking issues for “the Board”, but that he does all of the other “international work”. As an example, Novak indicated that he was the first to establish a “faculty” for “the Board” and “SRU”. Novak stated that he approached ten legitimate faculty from a campus-based college in Liberia, AMEU, and offered them each $75.00/month to answer e-mail questions about their fields, and provide approval to use their resumes and names on the web site as “faculty”. Novak made it clear that a key to operating an “online school” is to represent the existence of multiple “faculty”, even though the “faculty” do not really engage in any instruction or course work with any “students”. He stated that a good web site needs to have “accreditation” and “faculty” for credibility purposes only, and need not be genuine. He also spoke to our U/C group extensively about “documents” and the need for credible-looking documents such as degrees, transcripts and supporting documentation. Novak confirmed that “the Board” uses their printing office in Idaho to create the “official” degrees and other core documents with seals, embossments, etc. However, Novak stated that he was the one responsible for generating and coordinating the supporting documents such as “authentications”. Novak stated that he has all of the connections at the foreign embassies in Washington D.C., so he has been able to obtain official-looking documents with “apostilles” in support of the “SRU/JMU degrees.” However, Novak made clear that these supporting documents “say nothing” and are essentially meaningless. Yet, he said that “the Board” would offer them for sale at around $1800 in support of their bogus degrees, and that these worthless documents being sold for $1800 were an extremely profitable offering to “students”. Novak informed us that at one time he was making approximately $10,000/month in profit from his “documents”, separate from the profit being made by “the board”. He also stated that the majority of his documents were for foreign countries, a majority of which were for “students” from Saudi Arabia. When asked about his requirements for payment if he were to work for our U/C group, Novak stated that we could pay him in whatever manner we prefer. He highlighted the fact that if our group were to pay him and not declare anything for tax purposes, then he would also not declare the income, and that is what he prefers. He stated that when you make that much money, you don’t want to give it to the U.S. government.


99. Continuing in our U/C meeting with Richard Novak, at approximately 5:10 p.m., Abdullah Dunbar arrived at our suite at the Mayflower Hotel to join the meeting with Richard Novak. Reports from the surveillance team later confirmed that Dunbar had come directly to our meeting from the Liberian Embassy. After a brief introductory discussion, Dunbar confirmed that he could help our U/C group obtain “accreditation” with his Liberian government, specifically the Ministry of Education. Dunbar agreed that he would travel to Liberia with Richard Novak in order to acquire our “accreditation” and the documents for proof of such. Dunbar stated that the only firm requirement that we really need, in order to get an accreditation, is to establish a physical office with a staff in Liberia and pay a several hundred dollar permit fee. Dunbar confirmed Novak’s statements that the two of them could travel to Liberia, meet with the top officials from the Ministry of Education and Justice, make “payments” to the appropriate parties, and return to the U.S. with “official” documents representing our U/C “school” as being officially accredited and recognized in Liberia. Dunbar and Novak each informed us that the key to their trip will be to secure a meeting with the Minister of Education, Evelyn Kandakai (spelling unconfirmed). They also said that a meeting will be needed with the Minister of Justice. Dunbar stated that he will make some telephone calls and figure out the total cash requirement for “payments” to be made on their trip. Additionally, Dunbar agreed that he would accept a payment of $5,000, plus all expenses paid, to travel with Dunbar to Liberia and coordinate the successful “accreditation” process for our U/C “school”, (Randolph Addison Davis Technical University). When Your Affiant asked Dunbar if there were any laws being violated by directly paying him for these services, Dunbar responded “nah, I’m a diplomat.”


100. At approximately 6:00 p.m., our U/C meeting concluded. Both Novak and Dunbar left our suite #230, and the operation, including all ongoing audio and video recordings, was terminated.


A summary of some of the e-mails received from the May 6, 2005, Marketrends search warrant included the following:
Message ID# 1581.172.199.33.95.1096741871.squirr...k etrends.net
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 11:31:11 – 0700 (PDT)
Subject: Liberia and India and Panama
From: “University Services” <forwardinfo @ university-services.net>
To: Stephen @ advancedu.org,degrees @ university-services.net

Message from “Dixie” to “Rick” describing that Canyon College and Breyer State are willing to send him to other “countries”. She states that “Prince Porte is involved”. She tells “Rick” that she would like to set up a new “school” without a “history”. She requests that “Rick” and “Steve” discuss a name for the new “university”. Message was signed “Dixie”.

Message ID# 2170.209.126.206.86.1111606670.squirrel@209.126.20 6.86
Subject: Re: “Credti card and blank check signed”
From: “University Services” <forwardinfo @ university-services.net>
To: “ans credit card needs to be in VEDMURTHY SARVOTHAM” anved @ hotmail.com

Message from “Dixie” to “Ved” stating that she needs credit and debit cards that are not in “our” names. The cards are needed to make “purchases, transfers, payments, etc.” “Dixie” states that she must be able to use cards and checks in “Ved’s” name. She is requesting that only “Ved’s” name appears, but that “Ved” pre-signs the checks for her use. She states that she has never paid more than 10%, but is willing to pay “Ved” 20% in order to use “Ved’s” identity. “Dixie” states that the reason is for “privacy” for the purposes of registering domains or purchasing items for the “schools”.


Message ID# 200503121815.j2ClFBVm021290 @ svr4.marketrends.net
Original Message:
From: University Admin
To: degrees @ university-services.net
Sent: Friday March 11, 2005 10:38 PM
Subject: “no more porch monkey”

Message believed to be from Dixie, to “Rick” using obscene language to describe her anger at Dr. George Gollin due to the “saintregis.edu.lr” domain being shut down. She expressed that she felt that she deserves protection from Dr. Gollin and that if the domain is not restored, “they” will not receive any further compensation.

Message ID# 200503150509.j2F59PZK091143 @ relay.marketrends.net
To: forwardinfo @ university-service.net
Final-Recipient: RFC822; brad @ edwardjblakejr.com

The message, signed by “Steve and Dixie Randock, (509) 466-8829”, to “Brad” references the issuance of “44 blank degrees to Shafiq’s fake St. Regis University”.
03/10/05 From: “University Admin” forwardinfo @ university-service.net; to John McLaughlin regarding her “reference to the already “chartered” medical college that is a front for other schools¼”. In an earlier e-mail exchange between the two on 03/05/05, “Dixie” , signor of the message, states, “I don’t think you need to mention the medical school as any kind of “front” or it may sound as though we are trying to exploit this country as well”.

03/12/05 From: “University Admin” forwardinfo @ university-service.net; to “Rick” sending a message to “Porte” regarding the revocation of their “.lr” extension website by Randy Bush, top level domain registrar of Liberian domain extensions. The message is signed by Steve Randock.

03/12/05 From: “Icorreia” (Luis Correia, Atrium Incorporators); to “Steve” at “University Admin” forwardinfo @ university-service.net regarding confirmation of an organization in France authorized to bestow degrees. In the message, it is explained that Mr. Correia will assist in the search for officers, instructions for incorporation of their US LLC company in Delaware (Collines de Fontaine, LLC), the opening of an offshore bank account, and dedicated phone numbers.

03/24/05 From: “University Admin” forwardinfo @ university-service.net; to Jallah Faciann and Prince Porte, asking them to use their influence to restore their presence in Liberia.