Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Resume of Trump's E.J. Ridings questioned

Stephen Gandel of Money reports of Trump's E. J. Ridings:

In interviews with Money and on his company's Web site, Ridings has made a number of false or misleading claims about his professional experience. Last week, following inquiries by Money into Ridings' background, Trump Mortgage altered its Web site, removing some of the claims it contained about Ridings' past employment.

Money identifies three basic problems:

First, Ridings' initial bio stated that before joining the company he was "a top executive at one of Wall Street's most prestigious investment banks."

Second, the bio had said that Ridings was an "established leader" at one of New York's leading mortgage boutiques.

Third, the bio said he had 15 years of experience in the financial industry.

All three claims appear to be false, according to regulatory documents obtained by Money and interviews with former colleagues of Ridings.

Ridings, 42, has never been a top professional on Wall Street. Ridings, in an interview with Money in September, said the "top-executive" reference in his bio refers to an 18-month period in which he was a retail stock broker at Morgan Stanley.

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IPBiz notes that there were similar issues about the resume of former FEMA Director Michael Brown. Of course, Brown was removed, and Ridings is still around.

In the past, Lana Nguyen tricked officials at the University of Regina by claiming her husband's Ph.D. as her own. She obtained a job in the university's engineering faculty and thousands of dollars in research grants.

One also recalls how the University of Montreal was duped by fraudster Eric Poehlman.


***Separately, at Quincy University

Eugene Kole resigned after the Board of Trustees learned he had misrepresented himself on his resume when applying for the position in 1997. Kole did not earn a master of science degree in counseling from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1979 as he reported, nor did he earn a master of arts degree in psychology and counseling from LaSalle University in Philadelphia in 1985.

Instead he received a master of arts degree in psychology and counseling from LaSalle University in Mandeville, La., a correspondence school founded in 1986. In 1996, the founder of the school pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to prison. Kole had earned a legitimate doctoral degree. [from Quincy Herald Whig]

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LaSalle University (Louisiana) also comes up in a scandal brewing in Vermont:

Willon has declined to answer questions about his resume and did not return phone calls last week. He did, however, e-mail a letter to the editor to the Eagle Times on Friday. In it, Willon says he was unaware the school was bogus when a move to Kansas forced him to leave a degree program he had started in Maryland.

"As for La Salle University in Louisiana, I enrolled in that college believing it was a credible institution and had no idea that the individual in charge of the school would end up involved in an investigation," he wrote.

Willon, of Owego, N.Y., is still considered one of two finalists for the top job in the Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union. John Poljacik of Rutland, Vt., is the other. Poljacik did not return a call seeking comment Friday night.


One poster commented on the situation:

How ironic, a fake educational credential in education. If he's willing to crassly lie about his education, what does that say about his moral character? Run this fraudster out of town on his ear. Too bad there are unsuspecting districts out there that will eventually hire him or his kind. Nice catch Ms. Martin!

IPBiz notes that it is about time that courts in the US lower the boom on so-called "handwriting experts" from the diploma mill the American Board of Forensic Examiners [ABFE].

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Separately

Lee Bienstock, a runner-up in the 5th season of The Apprentice, is an associate VP at Trump Mortgage (of which E. J. Ridings is CEO and President).



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