The former head of a California technical school has been sentenced to five years in prison in the largest Post-9/11 GI Bill fraud case to date investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice Department.
Justice officials announced Tuesday that Michael Bostock, founder and CEO at California Technical Academy, or CTA, falsified enrollment numbers and course completion records, impersonated students and provided investigators with fake phone numbers for veteran students so regulators could not contact them about their studies.
The fraud resulted in the loss of nearly $105 million in government funds.
Read Next: Gender Neutral Standards, Return to Old Fitness Test: Congress' Dueling Ideas for the Army
Over a decade, the school received more than $32 million in tuition payments for 1,793 enrolled veteran students, while veterans enrolled in CTA's VA-approved courses received more than $72 million in education-related benefits, such as housing, book fees and other compensation.
Prosecutors presented evidence that top school officials — Michael Bostock, Eric Bostock, and Philip Abod — worked in concert to conceal the fraud, which involved falsifying information to the VA to exaggerate the number of students taking classes.
The trio faked veterans' contact information and answered burner cell phones when contacted by VA auditors, according to the Justice Department.
“Through June 2022, Bostock and his…
