ITT is being Sued!

[sevenalive]

Title: Qui Tam against ITT Educational Services
Date: 3 Sep 2008

I hope the government steps in and also sues them directly.
it reads about that ITT collected illegally over 350 million USD in Federal U.S. grants. If that holds true, its going to be very expensive for ITT. On the other hand, the whistleblower appears to be a former employee of ITT who was employed there from 1996 till 2006.

It could result in a judgment in excess of one billion dollars against ITT Educational Services for violations of the federal false claims act.

Source: https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/Qui_T ... 3_Sep_2008

itt-qui-tam-2008.pdf

(3.71 MiB) Downloaded 137 times

[SheepToTheFleecing]

The document is long and boring and there is, at present, no way that I know of to confirm its authenticity, (I am of the opinion that it is authentic.) I haven't read the whole thing but I think one of the things it says is that ITT has been knowingly flouting (or just ignoring) the regulations that says it can't give sales commission like incentives to the recruiters and financial aid persons. As such they have, for years, knowingly been in breach of contract. It gets a little bit complicated, but long story short they have been spending (and allowing to be spent) government money as if they were not a student loan farm. I may not be explaining it right.

I know my recruiter lied to me as s/he was one of the few in the entire country who has stayed there for a while, so s/he knew. S/he knew.

[GauntletsTheFighter]

Ya know? I went to ITT Tech in Torrance, CA. I was there for about three months before I got booted (I don't wish to discuss why). At first I was disappointed, then I hear of their reputation. I thank God I wouldn't have to stay there any longer. If it is that they're squandering grant money, then that would explain why people are in debt with loan companies like Sallie Mae and so forth. I'd like some retribution if that's their game.

[aka name]

I thank God I wouldn't have to stay there any longer.

Where do you plan to go next?

[saf_nyc]

Does anyone have a copy of the lawsuit? Everytime I try to click on the link it won't let me get through to the wikileaks page.

[sevenalive]

https://secure.wikileaks.org/leak/itt-qui-tam-2008.pdf

[tfc613]

I wish there was a way that I could get my money back too. Too bad Im not the govt huh? Well this is my story..I went to this so called Education Center to obtain a "Associates of Applied Sciences in Chemical Technology" AKA JOKE..My stepmom's stepmom ,if that makes since, was a recruiter who went to director within my term here. Lets just say she has moved to Ohio I believe to pursue he career with the scam I guess I didn't think she was that type of person Im not exactly sure if she knew what was going on. I didn't get an education I got a bunch of drama with our instructor hanging out with some of the "students" and an education that meant f*** all. Seriously if you missed a day of class it was like going to the principals office in highschool all over again. I am very upset with all of this I owe like 27K for a degree that has gotten me no where and I feel is even a joke to put on my resume. I am new to this site and I would like to know if anything can be done about this place have there been trials of lawsuits or are we just up a creek without a paddle?

[Mark Rabinowitz]

I have just gotten started reading this PDF document and wanted to point out that Debbie Leveski was the Financial Aid Administrator at the Troy, MI "campus" (that was the "campus" I went to from March 2004 until my "graduation" in September 2005). And yes, she had me fill out a FAFSA in March 2004. I'm glad she's stepping forward to clear her conscience and do what she can to put this sham in its place.

I'll have some details on what I think about the whole thing as I read more of the lawsuit.

[Magicman]

The Complaint is authentic and currently pending in the Southern District of Indiana. Would anyone like to discuss it?

-- less than a minute ago --

By the way, the Complaint is not boring...it is a work of art. I wonder who drafted it?

[Pcaroll]

Im really ashamed of this schools practices, I had graduated over 5 years ago with a associates degree and still have not found a job making over 30,000 a year. Looking for IT work for these past 5 years I only been able to work for about 2.5 of these years in IT because of the quality of some of these individuals. I have a cured a bad taste in my mouth after a dealing with the financial burden and looking for work for the last 5 years with very effort from the job recruitment division at ITT TECH. For all the people out there currently holding a degree from this "SO CALLED ACCREDITED TECHNICAL SCHOOL" its not worth the paper it is written on, Experiencing this first hand after meeting a short time employee of a Web hosting company located here in Tampa F.L. . Let me say this individual held a degree from ITT Tech and was a embarrassment to all of the Techies out here in Tampa, This individual was not even able to swap out a IDE hard drive from a server. After finding out this individual held a degree form ITT I felt cheated like my degree was was worthless. How does a scam like this still exist after so many law suites a federal probe and now a Lawsuite from the federal goverment? So what can we do about this situation that ITT Tech has put us in???

Philip
Pcaroll@gmail.com

[surmar2010]

Has anyone filled a complaint with the Better Business Bureau? If we can get enough people to do so we can at least get them investigated. I've been checking out class action law suites and this is what I came up with:

What factors must be present to start a class action lawsuit? There are several requirements to consider when attempting to form a new class action case. Simplified, these are:
1. Numerosity - adequate number of plaintiffs
2. Commonality - common damages and legal issues
3. Typicality - each class member's claim must come from the same event, and must make the same legal argument
4. Adequacy of Representation - the representative plaintiff will adequately protect and represent the interest of the class
5. Viability of Defendant - although it is not a requirement of the court, it is reasonable to assume that if the accused does not have the means to compensate for the alleged damages and legal costs, it would be difficult to entice a law firm to represent the class.
you can find more at http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/faq.html

Also we should put pressure on the accreditors of the school (Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges), I don't think I need to explain why. How anyone could accredit them is a mystery to me. If they loose there educational accreditation thats a big step in the right direction.
My goal isn't to get my money back it's to SHUT EM DOWN for praying upon studendts seeking an honest education.

[doniker]

I filed complaints with the BBB and state attorney general and they both told me they couldn't do anything.

I filed complaints with the State Council for Independent colleges and after investigating they found no fault with ITT.

I have seen lawyers and nobody is interested in my case.

ITT is surely paying off any and every agency that could fuck them over.