A Suffolk University employee pleads guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston for fraudulently obtaining more than $40,000 in federal student loan funds by falsifying her own records to make it appear that she was a Suffolk University graduate student when she was not.
According to the United States Attorney, Ashley Ciampa, 28, of Medford, pleaded guilty to student loan fraud.
In 2009, Ciampa began working in the Registrar's Office at Suffolk University. In 2013, she enrolled in Suffolk's MBA program free of charge as an employee. In a first semester business ethics class, Ciampa failed to attend any of the classes or complete the required coursework. Rather, she used her compute access in the Registrar's Office to give herself an "A" grade for the course.
She continued to do this for subsequent classes, and by maintaining the appearance that she was a graduate student, she was able to borrow $47,453 in federal student loans beginning in 2014. Ciampa spend that money on vacations and other personal expenses.
The charge of student loan fraud carries a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $20,000. However, actual sentences are usually less than the maximum penalties.
Ciampa is scheduled to be sentenced on October 5, 2016.
