Federal lawsuit accuses Full Sail University of fraud scheme involving “fake jobs” for graduates
Full Sail University is at the center of a newly unsealed whistleblower lawsuit. The school is accused of a massive scheme involving “fake jobs” for graduates.
The complaint, initially filed in 2024, claims the Los Angeles Film School and Full Sail University “self-financed thousands of temporary employment opportunities for their graduates through schemes with non-profits and paid off vendors.”
The suit claims that by doing this, the schools violated gainful employment requirements set by the federal government and violated accrediting standards.
Full Sail University administration tells 9 Investigates it “fundamentally disagrees” with the allegations in the complaint and says it looks forward to defeating the claims in court.
9 Investigates spoke to attorney Mark Kleiman who represents two former Los Angeles Film School executives that filed this lawsuit against the LAFS and Full Sail.
The plaintiffs include LAFS’s former vice president of career development David Phillips and former vice president of admissions Ben Chaib.
James Heavener is the co-chairman at both the Los Angeles Film School and Full Sail University. Heavener is also CEO at Full Sail.
“The way the trade has worked in L.A. and we believe it worked in Florida was to tell the production companies, come on in, you can use our facilities for free or really way, way below cost,” Kleiman said. “We just want you to hire a couple of our graduates. We’ll tell you which ones, this isn’t a real job for just long enough so we can claim they’re employed and tell the accrediting agencies, look, this one got a job. Even though the job is like three or four days long.”
For profit universities like Full Sail risk losing accreditation and federal financial aid if it fails to meet “gainful employment standards.”
The lawsuit states that Full Sail receives over $377 million in federal financial assistance annually.
“For at least the last ten years, nearly all federal funds bestowed upon and taken in resulted from fraud with the institution using taxpayer funds to finance and facilitate multiple, temporary
employment positions for LAFS graduates and through incentive payments to LAFS sales representatives,” the lawsuit reads.
“Our clients believe very strongly that the students have been terribly disadvantaged, and along with them, taxpayers,” Kleiman said.
Full Sail University says it emphatically denies the claims.
The university also noted many of its alumni have worked on award-winning projects and have been recognized with Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys.
Full Sail University added in their statement that these two executives who filed the lawsuit never worked for or was employed by Full Sail. The employees only worked for the Los Angeles Film School.
Full Sail University full statement:“Full Sail is aware of the lawsuit and emphatically denies the claims against it, filed by plaintiffs who were never employees of or worked at Full Sail. We are surprised and disappointed that two former employees of The Los Angeles Film School —a different school located in California —would so badly mischaracterize the facts and include Full Sail as part of their misguided litigation. Full Sail is proud of the accomplishments and well-documented successes of its graduates, including alumni who have worked on countless award-winning projects and who have earned individual recognition including Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and The Game Award honors. We fundamentally disagree with the allegations in the complaint, and we are committed to compliance with all regulatory requirements. Our services department does an exceptional job supporting students and alumni, and the outcomes are regularly reviewed by regulators to confirm compliance. It is unfortunate that Full Sail was included in this ill-advised lawsuit, and we look forward to the opportunity to defeat each claim against the school through the judicial process.”
Los Angeles Film School full statement:
“LAFS absolutely denies the distorted and “headline grabbing” claims asserted by two former employees in this recent lawsuit. Both employees make baseless and speculative accusations, which are contradicted by the long list of graduate successes and careers that confirm the effectiveness of the LAFS support system.
We are incredibly proud of our graduates, whose dedication and creativity are shaping the future of entertainment and building a shared Hollywood legacy for all future alumni of The Los Angeles Film School.
We look forward to responding to their false allegations as part of the case, and of course we will continue to focus on supporting our students.”
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