A private university in New Jersey has been ordered to pay the United States government almost $5 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the Department of Veterans Affairs by massively overcharging veterans for substandard online courses.
Caldwell University and Pennsylvania company Ed4Mil charged the government up to 30 times the tuition rate they paid for low-quality online courses, the Justice Department said in a statement.
“Caldwell University tried to hoodwink the Department of Veterans Affairs and, worse, veterans themselves, by claiming to offer online classes developed and provided by Caldwell that were in fact marked-up offerings by an online correspondence school,” U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said Friday.
Over several years, they reaped over $24 million in fraudulently obtained tuition benefits through the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act.
The scam cheated more than 2,500 service members out of the education they were entitled to, the FBI said.
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