Danville man sentenced for scamming dozens in $1.4 million student loan scheme

DANVILLE, Va. – A Danville man will spend over nine years behind bars for scamming dozens of people in a $1.4 million student loan fraud scheme. 

Tyrone Dwayne Young, 30, was sentenced Tuesday to 111 months in federal prison for enrolling more than 60 people in online universities for personal financial gain.

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Young will also have to pay restitution of more than $1.1 million to the US Department of Education and eight universities, including Liberty University. 

Young pleaded guilty back in November to one count of wire fraud, one count of student loan fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Beginning in the spring of 2016, Young started using the personal identifiers of family members and friends to enroll them as students in online universities. Working through Department of Education and university websites, he created fake student profiles to enroll his victims in online courses so he could get federal student loans in their names.  

His victims never completed their courses and eventually failed or were withdrawn, in most instances after student loan funds for their educational programs had been disbursed. Young tracked and orchestrated the receipt of these fraudulent student loan funds for personal use.  

He didn't just scam family and friends. Posing as a university employee, Young encouraged low-income residents in the Danville area to provide their personal identifiers for enrollment purposes, promising free government money and other benefits.  

In all, Young’s scheme resulted in an attempted loss to the Department of Education and affected institutions of more than $1.4 million.