Thousands of Fraudulent Nursing Diplomas Distributed in Fake Nursing License Scheme
More than two dozen people were charged (https://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/media-materials/nightingale/) for alleged participation in a wire fraud scheme that created an illegal licensing and employment shortcut for nursing candidates following an investigation launched (https://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/media-materials/nightingale/) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and law enforcement in January 2023.
The investigation, nicknamed “Operation Nightingale,” found that a group of individuals engaged in a scheme (https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraudulent-nursing-diploma-scheme-leads-federal-charges-against-25-defendants) to sell fraudulent nursing degree diplomas and transcripts from accredited Florida-based nursing schools to people seeking licenses and jobs as RNs and practical/vocational nurses (LPN/VNs). The fake diplomas and transcripts qualified purchasers to sit for the national nursing board exam and obtain licenses and jobs (https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraudulent-nursing-diploma-scheme-leads-federal-charges-against-25-defendants) in various states as RNs and LPN/VNs after passing the exam. In total, 25 individuals were charged for distributing more than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas through the scheme (https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraudulent-nursing-diploma-scheme-leads-federal-charges-against-25-defendants).
“The alleged selling and purchasing of nursing diplomas and transcripts to willing but unqualified individuals is a crime that potentially endangers the health and safety of patients and insults the honorable profession of nursing,” Omar Pérez Aybar, special agent in charge at HHS-OIG, said (https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraudulent-nursing-diploma-scheme-leads-federal-charges-against-25-defendants). “In coordination with our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG continues to aggressively investigate bad actors who so brazenly disregard the well-being of others in order to enrich themselves fraudulently.”