March 26, 2023

South Florida Nursing Schools Busted for Selling More Than 7K Fake Diplomas to Students

Twenty-five folks had been arrested Wednesday for working a multi-million greenback nursing rip-off in South Florida.

The defendants in “Operation Nightingale” are accused of operating and recruiting for three nursing colleges which have since been shut down: Sacred Coronary heart Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Sienna Faculty of Well being in Lauderhill, and Palm Seashore Faculty of Nursing in West Palm Seashore.

“The deeply concerning allegations at the center of this investigation goes against the very tenets of the nursing profession,” stated U.S. Lawyer Markenzy Lapointe.

In accordance to the prosecution, the faculties ready and bought pretend transcripts to nursing candidates, realizing the candidates would use them to sit for exams, receive licenses and procure jobs.

Authorities claimed the faculties made greater than $114 million by promoting over 7,600 pretend nursing diplomas at $15k every since 2016.

In accordance to investigators, a 3rd of graduates who acquired diplomas are literally practising drugs.

“The most important thing for us was to make sure, to the extent we’re talking about healthcare, is that we stop the bleeding,” Lapointe stated. “What do we learn when somebody gets injured? Stop the bleeding. The bleeding here is to stop those schools from being able to put more fraudulent diplomas out in the public sphere.”

The defendants face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud.



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