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Background Checks Reveal Bogus Resume and Harvard Degree

We see  our fair share of bogus resumes.    But as with any good lie, much of the bogus resume is filled with elements of truth.   Employment candidates tend to skirt the corners, embellishing their past employment, lying about a degree when they only attended the college.   Claiming skill sets they don’t really have.

But then there is the Big Lie.  The Big Lie on one hand defies the realities of background checks.  But on the other hand, if the lie is so big, the human resource manger has to wonder if it is the background check that is in error and not the job applicant.  Apparently Adam Wheeler committed the Big Lie.  In vying for a literary scholarship at the New Republic, Wheeler  claimed at perfect 4.0 Grand Point Average at Harvard University.   His resume boasted a combined 18 prize and scholarship awards.   It is reported in the Huffington Post that Wheeler  was awarded some $14,000in grants and prizes, after submitted plagiarized content.    He received $30, 00 in student aid from Harvard, allegedly under false pretenses.

Wheeler has been charged with four counts of larceny over $250, eight counts of identity fraud, seven counts of falsifying an endorsement or approval and pretending to hold a degree.  While Harvard is zip lipped about how Wheeler could have pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of one of most prestigious universities, speculators are firing away.   Apparently, Wheeler created documents, including the envelopes, that so mimicked legitimate institutions, to Harvard, his credentials appeared very much intact.

Okay, so the kid lied, cheated and stole some money.   He will probably be punished; how severely is anyone’s guess.     And everyone will tsk-tsk in admonishment, which is appropriate enough.   Grudgingly, perhaps, you do have to give him credit for creativity and initiative.   This kid may turn up somewhere as a leading entrepreneur and his infamous past will be just add-in fodder for the tabloid media.   It is not right what he did, by any means, but he did have the temerity to pull it off.  At least for awhile.  And then like most con artists who don’t know when to stop, he overreached, and it all came crashing down around him.

We often see education verification background checks that are bogus.  As I wrote earlier, sometimes the employment candidate claimed a degree when the background check will report enrollment only.  And sometimes they never attended the school at all.   Wheeler’s case, as I also wrote earlier, is a Big Lie, a monstrous fabrication that surpassed even the more brazen liars we have encountered while conducting background checks. It will remain as one of those offbeat legends, achieving semi-mythical status in some circles.

As for Wheeler getting any more financial awards of scholarships, that’s probably out of the question.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

One reply on “Background Checks Reveal Bogus Resume and Harvard Degree”

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