A federal appeals court last week reversed a lower court decision that had thrown out a lawsuit by a student who was duped by a fake university set up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.
The ruling handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 25 opens the door for Teja Ravi and others to sue over the phony college, which was set up by ICE in 2015 and advertised online.
The fictional University of Farmington, part of an undercover operation, came to light publicly in 2019 when eight people were indicted in Michigan on counts of visa fraud and “harboring aliens for profit.”
The operation was aimed at targeting fraud involving student visas, but the university provided no classes, no curriculum and no educators, according to court documents.
Ravi was one of the people fooled when he applied to the fake school, and he was never repaid his tuition, he alleged in the lawsuit.
The Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night about the claims in the suit or the appeals court decision.