Temple's Moshe Porat Sentenced In Rankings Fraud Scheme

Former dean of Temple University's Fox School of Business Moshe Porat was sentenced to 14 months in prison after being convicted of fraud in a scheme to boost the school's rankings and draw more students in an effort to vastly increase the school's revenue, federal authorities said.

Nicole Acosta

03/14/2022 11:26 a.m.

Porat, 75, of Bala Cynwyd, was convicted in Nov. 2021 of conspiracy and wire fraud charges, according to the US Department of Justice.

He was fired in 2018 on accusations the school inflated data used to rank programs.

U.S. News & World Report first ranked online MBA programs in 2015 -- the same year Temple was named the best program in the nation by the magazine, Daily Voice previously reported.

Temple's online MBA program held its spot at number one for three more years.

Marjorie O'Neill and Isaac Gottlieb, both administrators at Temple, were also named in the indictment for apparently submitting data to college-ranking magazines, United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said.

“The defendant conspired to provide false information about Fox programs and students in order to boost its appearance and fraudulently manipulate those who sought to support a top-tier school,” Williams said.

“Today an unhappy chapter for higher education in Philadelphia has come to a close and Moshe Porat has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment appropriate for his crime.”

Porat's lawyer, Michael A. Schwartz previously released a statement saying he "vigorously denies" the charges against Porat.

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