Guilty Pleas in Fake N.Y. College Grades
Lawyer Blogs
[##_1L|1355904092.jpg|width="130" height="90" alt=""|_##]Two former college students avoided jail when they pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge related to paying school officials to falsify their grades and transcripts. Uzi Azizov, 22, and Boris Yakubov, 25, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor state charge of falsifying business records. Each was sentenced to seven days of community service and fined $1,000.
The two former Touro College undergraduates were among 10 people indicted by a grand jury in July in a scheme to use the city college's computer system to change grades and create fake degrees in exchange for money.
Azizov admitted during his plea that in January he paid a Touro official to change his grades. Prosecutors said when Azizov was arrested his grade point average had jumped to 3.63 from 1.23 because of the transcript changes.
Yakubov admitted he paid a college official in February to falsify his records. Prosecutors said when Yakubov was arrested that he bought a fake transcript showing he had earned a master's degree from Touro's Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said in announcing the indictments that the defendants included Touro's former director of admissions, the former director of the school's computer center and three public school teachers.
The indicted school officials created or altered records for at least 50 people since January 2007, Morgenthau said, charging fees of $3,000 to $25,000 for better or deleted grades and for bachelor's and master's degrees. Cases involving those defendants are pending.
Lawyers for Azizov and Yakubov said that they had no comment as they left court Thursday.
Related listings
-
US secret court rejects call to release wiretap documents
Lawyer Blogs 12/14/2007The top secret US court overseeing electronic surveillance programs rejected Tuesday a petition to release documents on the legal status of the government's "war-on-terror" wiretap operations.In only the third time the Foreign Intelligence Surveillan...
-
Law Firm Whistle Blower Files Termination Lawsuit
Lawyer Blogs 12/14/2007The woman who blew the whistle on a prominent Portland lawyer accused of stealing money from his clients and firm said she was fired from the firm as a result of her actions.Ellie Rommel was employed as John Duncan’s secretary when he was a partner a...
-
N.J. General Assembly Votes to Repeal Death Penalty
Lawyer Blogs 12/13/2007New Jersey is set to become the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court restored it in the mid-1970s. Opponents of capital punishment hope the state's action may prompt a rethinking of the moral and practical im...
New Rochelle, New York Personal Injury Lawyers
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, contact Kommer, Bave & Ollman, LLP, in New Rochelle, New York, immediately. We can answer all your questions and work with you to determine if you have the grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. The attorneys at our firm are determined to resolve even the most difficult of cases. We will work closely with you to determine the best course of action to get your claim or case resolved in the most efficient way possible. We will fight for your right to compensation! No one should have to suffer a financial burden from the result of another person’s carelessness. The attorneys at Kommer, Bave & Ollman, LLP will aggressively fight to ensure that justice is served on your behalf.