Tamara Brown, Wire Fraud, New Jersey 2021

Tamara Brown, the owner of a commercial diving school, has admitted to committing wire fraud, according to a guilty plea entered in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J.

Brown, 57, of Haddon Heights, N.J., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the offense.

According to court documents, from January 2012 through July 2018, Brown owned a private, for-profit commercial diving school that offered educational programs in commercial diving and underwater welding and salvage.

As a for-profit institution, the diving school was required to be accredited through an approved accreditation body to be eligible to receive tuition funds from the U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Act’s programs. The VA also relies upon the accreditation in evaluating the eligibility of veteran students to receive student aid funding.

Brown submitted fraudulent information to the accrediting authority, reporting rates of employment of the school’s graduates of between 81 to 84 percent, when the employment rates were closer to 50 to 60 percent, significantly lower than the rate required to maintain accreditation.

The wire fraud charge to which Brown pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the offense. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Brown must pay restitution of $1.1 million.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 30, 2021.

Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig credited agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, the Philadelphia Resident Agency of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, and the Northeast Field Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Vondra Carrig of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

Related Federal Cases