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Terrible headline! Students knew that the scheme was illegal “and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others,” prosecutors wrote in

by zaroth 8y ago

Terrible headline! Students knew that the scheme was illegal “and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others,” prosecutors wrote in their indictment. This was not a fake university at all. This was a fake fake university. The former would be offensive. The latter is a brilliant sting operation I 100% endorse.

runn1ng 8y ago
From the description it sounds like entrapment. Which is why I can't believe it and why I think there is something missing...
- sp332 8y ago
  Notice they didn't charge the 600 students who enrolled. They charged only 8 of those students who recruited lots of other students. That's kinda shady but it's probably a step removed from entrapment. The article doesn't have anything from the defense's side though.
  - learc83 8y ago
    It also seems like an awful lot of time and money to get 8 indictments.
  - zaroth 8y ago
    But they did arrest and are bringing deportation proceedings against “scores of students”.
    - sp332 8y ago
      Oh I did miss that. That sounds bad considering what was reported last time they did this. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/nyregion/students-at-fake-university-say-they-were-collateral-damage-in-sting-operation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/nyregion/students-at-fake...
      - masonic 8y ago
        The "they" in that article is the Obama administration.
        sp332 8y ago
        So? It's the same agency. I don't know that it changed that much since 2015 when this "new" sting started.
sp332 8y ago
Yeah, that helps a lot. Still, while the students who enrolled knew it was a fraud, the article didn't mention how many wasted time and money (and aspiration) applying. Also, prosecutors said that this is proof that the student visa program could be abused. That's not clear at all from this case. We know at least one of the fake school's neighbors knew something was wrong. We don't know how likely this was to have been discovered by authorities routinely, or how many applicants reported the fraud. This is going to put extra pressure on the student visa program for no good reason.

by zaroth 8y ago

runn1ng 8y ago

From the description it sounds like entrapment. Which is why I can't believe it and why I think there is something missing...

sp332 8y ago
Notice they didn't charge the 600 students who enrolled. They charged only 8 of those students who recruited lots of other students. That's kinda shady but it's probably a step removed from entrapment. The article doesn't have anything from the defense's side though.
- learc83 8y ago
  It also seems like an awful lot of time and money to get 8 indictments.
- zaroth 8y ago
  But they did arrest and are bringing deportation proceedings against “scores of students”.
  - sp332 8y ago
    Oh I did miss that. That sounds bad considering what was reported last time they did this. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/nyregion/students-at-fake-university-say-they-were-collateral-damage-in-sting-operation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/nyregion/students-at-fake...
    - masonic 8y ago
      The "they" in that article is the Obama administration.
      - sp332 8y ago
        So? It's the same agency. I don't know that it changed that much since 2015 when this "new" sting started.

sp332 8y ago

Yeah, that helps a lot. Still, while the students who enrolled knew it was a fraud, the article didn't mention how many wasted time and money (and aspiration) applying. Also, prosecutors said that this is proof that the student visa program could be abused. That's not clear at all from this case. We know at least one of the fake school's neighbors knew something was wrong. We don't know how likely this was to have been discovered by authorities routinely, or how many applicants reported the fraud. This is going to put extra pressure on the student visa program for no good reason.