1 a : DECEIT, TRICKERY; specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : TRICK
2 a : a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : IMPOSTOR; also : one who defrauds : CHEAT b : one that is not what it seems or is represented to be
synonym see DECEPTION, IMPOSTURE

Fraud comes in many shapes and sizes, and we often do not recognize it or the trickster until the consequences of the deceit begin to hurt us or those we love, work with, or hear about in the media. Fraudulent actions are always costly, however, and we must remain vigilant in a constant battle to stop anyone who believes that deceit wins any prize or reward. We celebrate the exposure of those people who greedily go after money or glory rather than work hard for a fair wage in a moral and ethical manner.

Winners of the 2004 F For Fraud Award:

BELMONT: The World's Most Expensive High School

The huge Belmont Learning Center in Los Angeles is the single most expensive school construction project in California - maybe the world's - history. After putting $ millions, or $ billions into the project, "the LAUSD had to halt construction when it came to light that the half-built school was sitting atop an oil field emanating toxic explosive gases. Although no one was prosecuted, facilities officials, it turned out, had abandoned accounting procedures and fiscal controls and not disclosed the environmental hazards and their true costs.
What was notable, however, was how easily the specialized units in charge of the costly project got away with concealing what they were doing, not withstanding the enormous sums at stake...First, LAUSD staff and outside consultants misled school board members with respect to fact and law, so central school board members essentially had little idea what they were looking at when they signed off on the construction plans. Second, 'turf rivalry' and a 'culture of deny, defend and deflect' meant that once certain fiefdoms within the school system got control over the project, they took advantage of the lack of oversight and their isolation from other divisions to engage in conduct that raised troubling questions about conflicts of interest, reckless mismanagement, and gross waste. Referring to the district's segmentation, one state commission blamed 'the organizational structure that divides responsibility in ways that thwart accountability." - Lydia Segal, Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools, p. 72.

Belmont, Los Angeles' Most Expensive School - and Built Over a Toxic Dump - is Demolished

Desperate parents do desperate things, such as committing their children to teen boot camps for "behavior modification." Many of these camps, clinics, or rehabilitation centers are owned, operated, or associated with drug and/or insurance companies who profit off of the gullibility and despair of parents. The camps have alot of money which is spent on beautiful flyers designed to convince the most sceptical parent/guardian that their child is safe in their hands while undergoing the most extreme bahavior modification and mental "re-structuring" possible. In fact, some teens die while participating in these programs. With the new movement in Congress to screen for mental instability without a parents' consent, we at The E-Accountability Foundation caution all parents who are, or may be, considering a placement of their child into one of these programs, that you scour the internet as we did for testimonials about what the camp is really like. Read what those who have left alive say about the camp you are considering. Please.

Teen Boot Camps


We believe the complicity between the boot camps and the insurance industry makes this area of study worthy of an "F for Fraud". Dont send your child.

We believe that the drug, insurance, and legal industries of America are joined together in a lobbyist-type organization whose (secret) members promote, in the name of "scientific research" or "rehabilitation" the use of drugs on our population (preferably those too sick, poor, or handicapped to do anything about it). See what is happening with the policies of mental health screening of our nation's youth and you may think, as we do, that the "human guinea pigs" idea touted below along with the abuse of teens described above in teen boot camps show a disregard for the health and safety of our young people and adults in this country.

Dr. Mel Riddile, formerly working with Straight, Inc, won the Principal of the Year Award from Met Life...

We must stop the human guinea pig experimentation.