A college used exotic dancers to lure students, according to a lawsuit filed in Miami. This week, a lawsuit was filed by the Florida Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney against FastTrain College, and its former owner, Alejandro Amor, for using exotic dancers to recruit students and forging documents to obtain over $35 million in federal funds.
College paid exotic dancers to recruit students and coached them on how to lie in order to obtain millions of dollars from federal financial aid programs.
On Wednesday, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Attorney in Miami joined in filing a civil lawsuit against FastTrain College, and its former owner Alejandro Amor.
The whistleblower lawsuit was initially filed by Juan Pena, a former admissions employee at the Plantation campus and the Flagler campus.
According to court documents, FastTrain College, which had seven Florida campuses (Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Duval counties), hired exotic dancers as “admissions representatives” to travel around the state to recruit students.
The strippers mainly targeted male prospects, and promised them among other things, free education, this prompted the victims to quickly apply to the now-defunct college, which has left more than 160 former attendees with massive student loans debts.
The college also asked their female staff members, who were often very attractive to dress in provocative outfits, when dealing with students who were members of the opposite sex. The lawsuit stated:
“The college purposely hired attractive women and sometimes exotic dancers and encouraged them to dress provocatively while they recruited young men in neighborhoods to attend FastTrain.”
Once the students arrived on campus, FastTrain College staff members falsified documents such as high school diplomas in order to make sure they were accepted.
According to the lawsuit, Alejandro Amor, 56, and his workers also trained the students to lie about their status, and financial situation on application forms to make sure they benefited from governmental grants.
Pam Bondi stated that from 2009 to its closing in June 2012 after being raided by the FBI, FastTrain was allegedly able to scam more than $35 million in federal funds and grants from the U.S. Department of Education. Bondi said in a statement:
“Taking advantage of students in order to exploit federal financial aid programs is reprehensible.”
Authorities also discovered that the college routinely falsified attendance records to keep receiving money when students stopped being present. Documents showed:
“FastTrain’s admissions representatives pressured the ineligible students they enrolled to attend classes for at least the first five days of the period.”
Alejandro Amor and his associates were charged criminally in October and their attorneys have declined to comment on the story.
