HOUSTON — The former director of admissions for the Pennsylvania-based The Art Institutes International, claims he was fired in retaliation for not participating in a scheme to defraud federal student loan and grant programs.
Michael Harrington filed a complaint July 27 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against The Art Institutes International LLC alleging violation of the False Claims Act.
Harrington served as The Art Institutes International's director of enrollment. According to his complaint, the school's "parent company" entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice over fraud and Title IV of the Higher Education Act violations regarding alleged "deceptive and misleading recruiting practices" of students that centered on paying admissions staff based on the amount of students they enrolled.
He claims on Aug. 14, 2019 he was asked by the Institute's CEO and the Houston Campus president to have potential students fill out enrollment agreements so the federal government would not know the students never committed to attending the school and never requested federal loans, but the school could still collect Title IV grants and loans for those students.
Harrington alleges that on Oct. 2, 2019, he was falsely terminated for "accessing student information without authorization" when his firing was actually in retaliation for refusing to "take part in defrauding the federal government."
Harrington seeks monetary relief, trial by jury, interest and all other just relief. He is represented by Attorney Ahad Khan in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number 4:20-CV-02633