Robert Lichfield is an American businessman who was the founder of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.
[3] He has been linked to controversial network of schools for troubled teens and allegations of abuse and fraud,[4] and is a long-time campaign fundraiser for Republican senator and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
[5][6] Lichfield was the founder of Academy at Ivy Ridge, as well as many other school programs reported to have committed child abuse.
The center is controversial for numerous reasons including a 2011 Utah lawsuit, where "500 parents and former residents sued WWASPS, alleging in court papers that students were beaten, chained, locked in dog cages, forced to eat vomit and made to lie in urine and feces as punishment.
A judge dismissed that lawsuit several years later, ruling the group had not properly argued a fraud claim.