A memorable collection of characters populated The Chronicle’s coverage of diploma mills, which had become a multimillion-dollar industry. There was the former nightclub hypnotist who lived on an 80-foot yacht until he went to jail for mail fraud. The phone-bank entrepreneur, complete with chauffeur and bodyguard, whose employees called him the “King of Romania.” The Atlantis-obsessed psychic who accredited her “university” with her own accrediting agency. Thousands of people bought phony academic credentials from such worldwide operations, which proved difficult to shut down.
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