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The legal pursuit of a defunct for-profit college in Florida and its former owner gets wilder with each filing. A new civil suit filed by a U.S. attorney and the state's attorney general, Pam Bondi, alleges that FastTrain College defrauded the federal government with false claims for millions of dollars in financial aid.
The seven-campus for-profit, which offered credentials in IT and medical professions, closed in 2012. In October the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Alejandro Amor, the college's former owner, and three of its admissions representatives. They were charged with the theft of government funds. FastTrain allegedly submitted fraudulent aid claims for 1,300 students, netting $6.5 million.
According to the civil suit, however, the college received more than $35 million in Pell Grants and other federal aid. And, as The Miami Herald reported, the lawsuit said one campus "hired attractive women and sometimes exotic dancers and encouraged them to dress provocatively while they recruited young men in neighborhoods to attend FastTrain."
Amor, who owned a $2 million home, 54-foot yacht and private plane, faces multiple charges that could include jail time.
