[1] The sting operation,[2][3] code-named "Paper Chase", was overseen by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

[4] The sting was disclosed to the public on January 30, 2019, with The Detroit News[5] reporting that the DHS and ICE HSI had arrested eight "recruiters" of Indian nationality and charged them on grounds of visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit.

[13] Its website claimed to "provide students from throughout the world a unique educational experience" and contained academic program details.

[7] Other people who worked in the same building doubted the prosecutors' contention that everyone was willfully involved, claiming to have seen students arriving with backpacks and attempting to inquire about the university.

[15] Immediately following the disclosure of the sting, Ravi Mannam, an immigration lawyer based in Atlanta, criticized the operation as "misleading" and accused the government of utilizing "very questionable and troubling methods to get these foreign students to join the institution", since some students were under the impression that their enrollment was being made in a legitimate program.

[23] In 2020, a lawyers for Farmington students as a class filed suit against the U.S. government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for breach of their contract, arguing that their tuition fees of around $11,000 a year were essentially stolen.