Ex-Harvard senior charged with fabricating life history, stealing grant money

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/05/by_globe_staff_60.html

by inmygarage • 16 years ago

15 21 16 years ago

temphn2• 16 years ago

So this guy was an undocumented Harvard student without papers. Sure he received funds from Harvard and may have falsified a few documents/ID cards, but what's the big deal? He came there to work.

(Seriously -- the analogy to illegal immigrants is actually very strong. Harvard students are outraged about this because they 'obeyed the rules' and 'worked hard' to get in, yet their financial aid money is going to someone who didn't. This is very similar to the way many citizens and legal immigrants feel about the current government failure at the southern border.)

cperciva3• 16 years ago

This isn't quite the same as the situation with illegal immigrants. This guy received scholarships which should have gone to other students -- that is, free money, not merely a job.

Even if this guy had gotten into Harvard non-fraudulently, he probably wouldn't have received the same scholarships without deceit.

xor_lemma• 16 years ago

Illegal immigrants receive plenty of entitlements.

Retric2• 16 years ago

The reason students are upset is a significant portion of Harvard's "value" is simply the fact that someone got into Harvard. So when people are looking for intelligent and capable people you can easily find people who where at some point above average. (And chances are they stayed that way.)

Granted, it also has value as a secret handshake to get into a club of people who are over payed for what they do. Just like doctors or union workers when you restrict supply you can extract more value.

temphn2• 16 years ago

1) If you look at the total public monies paid in vs. out, illegal immigrants are definitely (on net) tax recipients. You need look no further than California's budget crisis. Please do drill down if you wish, but a back of the envelope estimate (no income tax, only sales tax, and generally under $40k income) makes the situation pretty clear IMO.

2) Moreover, illegal immigrants are disproportionately Hispanic. Their children are automatic US citizens by birthright citizenship and thus qualify for affirmative action. This is another nontrivial preference when you look at empirical differentials in objectively measurable quantities -- like SAT scores, which have their flaws, but are no doubt among the things this Harvard senior falsified.

Now...

3) Just to consider the other side of the coin, someone below said "If all that matters is that I 'came to work,' then what's the point of any rules and regulations.".

Yet many of us here at Hacker News know that the rules and regulations are often simply set up to favor the incumbents, and that many influential web phenomena (e.g. Youtube, Bit Torrent, Napster, Google, Facebook, etc.) were built on just being ballsy enough to play a game of brinkmanship with the law.

Sure, those are laws that many of us have disrespect for -- in large part because the guys that we're "stealing" from are the MPAA and RIAA, who have deep pockets.

Similarly many who "don't care" about illegal immigration aren't big fans of the USA. They argue that "the border crossed Mexico", after all, and ancestors of (some of) today's Americans killed ancestors of (some of) today's Mexicans and took their territory, so revanchist sentiment is justified.

But doesn't Harvard have deep pockets? Aren't its privileged graduates going to be wealthy and successful even if there is a fake or two among their ranks? Hasn't it been the training ground for most of the capitalist and political oppressor class?

Why then the outrage over devaluing and diluting the Harvard credential? Perhaps because many of us (including myself) have paid good money for one of these Ivy degrees, and so now it is our ox getting gored rather than some remote abstraction.

Let's be clear that widespread 'undocumented' immigration is not a problem for the Harvard-educated software engineers working at Facebook. But the widespread presence of undocumented Harvard graduates? That's another story altogether.

tokenadult2• 16 years ago

He violated a specific statute by applying for need-based student financial aid under false pretenses.

After edit:

The previous HN submission about this news story

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1355494

elicited some comments about other issues.

pyre3• 16 years ago

> Sure he received funds from Harvard

I think this is the main point. It's not that he fooled admissions to get into the school, it's that he took money away from other students.

> This is very similar to the way many citizens and legal immigrants feel about the current government failure at the southern border

While I think there are a lot of anti-illegal-immigrant crazies out there (cough Sheriff Joe cough), saying that it's A-OK to get around rules and regulations by being a fraud, tears at the very fabric of society. If all that matters is that I 'came to work,' then what's the point of any rules and regulations. Should I be just as willing to lie, cheat and bamboozle my way into whatever job that I can, just to remain competitive in the job market?

ilamont• 16 years ago

Lied on his admissions, too. Took away a spot from someone who really deserved to go to Harvard.

pyre3• 16 years ago

> He is charged with four counts of larceny over $250, eight counts of identity fraud, seven counts of falsifying an endorsement or approval and pretending to hold a degree.

Whenever I see these articles, I always picture some huffy duff in a suit turning red because he was fooled, so in retaliation he throws numerous baseless charges at the fraudster in addition to the ones that are based on something in some sort of legal temper tantrum. Shouldn't he just have a number of counts of fraud rather than, "as many charges as we can pile on and make stick?"

cperciva3• 16 years ago

Usually this is done when there's some doubt about which charges will stick -- you throw everything you've got and take whatever the jury gives you, or more likely you plea bargain down to a less serious charge.

tokenadult2• 16 years ago

What happened here in the charging is that the prosecutor realized the guy had a pattern of just moving on and committing fraud again each time he was caught in a nonjudicial college disciplinary process. The guy needs to understand the gravity of his wrong-doing.

kylemathews• 16 years ago

I thought this was going to be about Facebook at first...

jackowayed• 16 years ago

I wonder if Harvard could contact whoever was the first person on the waitlist not to get in that year and inform that person that he/she has grounds to sue the guy for millions of dollars. It seems like a suit that the person could win, and it would be really interesting what a jury determined was the "value" of having a Harvard degree compared to having a degree from some other school.

chrischen• 16 years ago

Think of all the integrity undermining that doesn't get caught.

wayne• 16 years ago

Similar past cases:

- Azia Kim from Stanford: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=5120

- Michael Godelia from Harvard: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/11/murky-past-trail...

blintson• 16 years ago

I'm not a troll.

I don't think the law should have anything to do with this. He didn't do anything hard. He was only able to get away with what he did because Harvard was to lazy to verify his documents. Harvard charges $33k/semester, at that price they can afford to take the time to verify _every_ applicant's information.

Ex-Harvard senior charged with fabricating life history, stealing grant money

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