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Umair Hamid has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and was ordered to forfeit about $5.3 million for his role in an international diploma mill scheme operated by the Pakistani company Axact, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York Hamid, a Pakistani national who served as assistant vice President of international relations for Axact, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April. He was accused of helping Axact to commit fraud in the U.S. and elsewhere and traveled to the U.S. in 2016 to open a bank account that, prosecutors said, was used to collect money from defrauded customers.
“Umair Hamid and Axact operated a massive diploma mill that preyed on consumers who thought their tuition would pay for a college education,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a statement. "Instead, Hamid provided victims with worthless fake diplomas. Defendants like Hamid who profit from fake schools face very real penalties, including prison time.”
