Time quoted Kirk, who claimed he no longer operated Southland, as saying he "had no interest as an educator," but the school "was a good way to make money.
[6] In the mid-1990s, LaSalle provoked the attention of authorities because of evidence that government workers had been awarded promotions and salary increases based on fraudulent advanced degrees.
[citation needed] The school was shut down after a July 1996 raid by the FBI, U.S. postal inspectors, and the Internal Revenue Service.
[6][11] Ultimately Kirk entered a plea agreement in which he was sentenced to five years in federal prison and was ordered not to operate any more schools.
[12] Handy later operated Novus University School of Law (registered in Marshall Islands) from Palmdale, California.
[8] Pat Brister, a leader of the national and Louisiana Republican Party, served as chief executive officer and chairman of the trustees of Orion College.
[15] In 2000, in Texas, it was reported that a nutritionist advising U.S. Olympic swimmers Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson on the use of dietary supplements had received a doctorate degree in nutrition counseling from LaSalle University.
[18] Richard Cormier had been newly selected for the head administrator role with Coquille Valley Hospital, when it was discovered that he had been lying about his education.
The court stated, "Mr McKenna was not, in my judgment, dishonest and, for that matter, whatever one may think of the academic quality of his work, or of the La Salle degree, it would not be accurate to describe it as 'bogus'."
"Desmond Browne, QC, for McKenna, said that 'any perceived lack of academic rigour at La Salle' did not prove that his client was dishonest.
"[25] In 2007, the Joplin Globe (Missouri) reported on the controversy of Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Norman's bachelor's degree being from a "diploma mill" LaSalle University.
[26] In 2007, the Post Star (Glens Falls, NY) reported on the controversy of candidate Nathan York running for Warren County Sheriff when he included a bachelor's degree from LaSalle University on his campaign literature.
"[28] In 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that Vice Admiral Donald Arthur, who had retired as Navy surgeon general, had a Juris Doctor degree from LaSalle.
"[30] In early 2009, it was reported that Jeffrey Camarda, a Florida financial planner who had been promoting himself as holding a finance Ph.D. from a "LaSalle University", had obtained his degree from Kirk's operation in Louisiana.
[31] Camarda became involved in civil litigation with a former colleague, who asserted that Camarda had committed fraud when he represented his diploma mill credential as a valid Ph.D.[32] A 2009 Independent Weekly story reported on the controversy surrounding the newly elected vice chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, Tim Johnson.
Johnson claimed to have a Ph.D. in Total Quality Management; however, he would not discuss his alma mater, which he had previously cited as LaSalle University, 2000.