Defense Employee Accused of $6.7 Million Student Aid Fraud
A Department of Defense employee, Randolph Stanley, 42, has been charged with student aid fraud after he applied for millions of dollars in federal aid using the personal information of non-existent students.
Stanley was an employee at the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and had previously worked closely with students as a financial advisor at “University 1” according to the official documents. During his time in higher education, Stanley is accused of creating at least 65 false student accounts between 2005 and 2021. The accounts were created using the names of students who did not intend to earn a diploma and spanned over eight universities. The Department of Defense describes the fraudulent accounts as “ Student Participants” and explained that the Student Participants “allegedly either allowed their personally identifiable information (PII) to be used on student loan financial forms or their PII was used without their knowledge, making them victims of identity theft.” The DoD also alleges that while Stanley pocketed most of the money, he did share a portion with a few of the participants.
Stanley allegedly used these Student Participants’ information to apply for federal student aid and was able to obtain a total of over $6.7 million. When the money was released by the federal aid program, the money went directly to the universities to cover the tuition of these false students. Leftover monetary aid was then distributed to four different bank accounts that were connected to the Student Participants. Once the surplus was issued to the accounts, Stanley used them to fund his own personal endeavors. It is commonplace for additional leftover federal aid after tuition is paid to go directly to students which was the case with many of these student accounts. The Universities which made these payments did so in good faith and are not accused of any wrongdoing.
In addition to paying himself, portions of the funds Stanley secured went to ghostwriters who were based in Africa. These ghostwriters, named as “Writer Participants” in the affidavit, filled out online assignments on behalf of the students and made it appear that the students were actually doing the course work. The ghostwriters maintained the appearance that the students were academically involved in their enrollment at the college.
The affidavit also includes Stanley's vast efforts to ensure students were able to enroll at the school and secure federal aid. Stanley along with his Writer Participants allegedly falsified documents including transcripts, diplomas, and other documents in order to gain admission into the schools.
Stanley is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If he is convicted, Stanley could face up to 20 years behind bars.
