10 Fake Degree Disasters
Legal Consultant Becomes Defendant Thanks to Fake Credentials
Richard Gottfried, a self-proclaimed “sentencing expert,” consulted for multiple criminal defense lawyers in Center City, Philadelphia and milked the city courts out of nearly $400,000 before his credentials were questioned and ultimately debunked. If you want to go from consultant to defendant in the blink of an eye, just order a fake law degree from a diploma mill and claim you’ve got a state psychologist license.
Jang Mi-hee Confesses to Being a Jang-Mi-liar
Korean movie star Jang Mi-hee, who later became a theater and visual arts professor at Myongji College, confessed that she lied about her educational background and never graduated from her purported alma mater Hawthorne University (which, incidentally, turned out to be an unaccredited university). In a country that places such emphasis on education, it’s especially embarrassing to be a celebrity professor with bogus credentials.
Ireland’s Government Science Advisor’s College Degree is a Load of Blarney
Barry McSweeney enjoyed the distinction of the first Chief Science Advisor to the Government of Ireland. Unfortunately, his title was short-lived and the scientist was forced to resign after the Irish Independent dug around and discovered that his PhD had been obtained from an unaccredited institution. Apparently it looks suspicious when you claim to have obtained a PhD after only 12 months of study (unless you’re Doogie Howser, that is).
Georgia Teachers Have Fake Degrees on Their Minds
Nearly a dozen teachers, counselors and principals in Georgia got investigated for purchasing fake advanced degrees from an unaccredited online university in Liberia that grants master’s and doctorate degrees based on “life experience”…and about $1,500, of course. The fake degrees boosted the educators’ salaries by thousands of dollars, which proved to be a nice but short-lived perk of buying life experience.
California Firemen are Liar Liars, Forced to Put out Own Pants Fires
16 Sacramento County firefighters landed in hot water when the raises they were granted were earned via a diploma mill. The firefighters received about $50,000 in “education wage incentive raises” for earning degrees from three online universities that aren’t properly accredited. Since California has no rules governing postsecondary education institutions, the firemen probably figured they’d be in the clear. Unfortunately for them, The Sacramento Bee smelled smoke and discovered a five-alarm fire.
Iranian Interior Minister’s Oxford Degree Ox-forged
Ali Kordan, the Interior Minister of Iran, learned the hard way that a fake honorary degree from Oxford University isn’t enough to stay in Parliament’s good graces. Although Kordan maintained that he was duped by a fake Oxford affiliate office in Tehran, he was impeached in 2008 and got the boot.
Football Coach Goes from the Fightin’ Irish to Fightin’ Fake Degree Allegations
I
n 2001 George O’Leary resigned as the Notre Dame football coach five days into his coaching gig after confessing that he lied about both his athletic and academic credentials. Not only did O’Leary make bogus claims about having played college football for three years, he also asserted that he had a master’s degree in education from NYU. Both lies were caught by doing a simple background check which ended up sending the short-lived football coach packing.
Laura Callahan Secures Our Nation’s Homeland but Not Her College Education
Former senior director at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Laura Callahan was under investigation for obtaining fake Bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in computer science from Hamilton University, a now-defunct diploma mill. Her fake credentials led to an 11-month investigation that uncovered multiple fake degrees held by numerous federal officials. Although Callahan did have a legit associate’s degree, she resigned from her position.
South Korean University Sues Over Fact Check Fail at Yale
In March 2008 Dongguk University in South Korea sued Yale University for $50 million and claiming that the ivy league college “publicly humiliated and deeply shamed” them. Dongguk hired an art history professor whose Yale degree arose questions of authenticity. When the university asked Yale to verify her credentials, they received a fax confirming her degree as being legit, but when they checked a second time, Yale had no record to confirm the professor’s claim. Dongguk alleged that the mistake on Yale’s part has led to embarrassment, a tarnished reputation, and a decline in donations and applications.
L. Ron Hubbard Makes up an Entire Religion and a College
Not only has science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard made up a religion, he also fabricated his own PhD. A group of British diplomats who were investigating the…eccentric author’s qualifications discovered that he awarded himself a PhD from a “sham diploma mill” that he acquired. Hubbard purchased space somewhere in Los Angeles and registered it as Sequoia University, then promptly awarded himself a doctorate from his newly established institution. He makes the other 9 people on this list look like amateurs because not only was he the only person who made up an entire college, he raked in over $200 million thanks to his, er, active imagination.