Paul McKenna, DJ turned Hypnotist "Earned" Fake Doctorate

Taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-398025/Paul-McKenna-wins-court-battle-fraud-claims--price.html

Paul McKenna wins court battle over fraud claims - at a price

Paul McKenna has won his libel battle over a claim that he had bought a bogus degree. But his success could come at a price - with even the judge publicly wondering whether it was a pyrrhic victory.
The TV hypnotist faces picking up a big slice of a £1.5million legal bill while receiving damages that could be as low as £20,000. He was also counting the cost of being exposed as a victim of a scam which saw him work for an unaccredited doctorate.

Mr Justice Eady said McKenna, 42, must bear some responsibility for a 'curious case ... (in which) both sides seem to have been determined to fight themselves to a standstill'. He added: 'What all this has achieved is open to question.'

McKenna - a former radio DJ who now runs a self-help empire with an annual turnover of £2.5million - had sued the Daily Mirror after columnist Victor Lewis-Smith accused him of boasting about having a PhD despite knowing it was fake.

The doctorate in hypnotherapy, which the TV star had gained from La Salle university in Louisiana in 1997, had been the subject of regular mocking by the Mirror, and Lewis-Smith in particular, McKenna said.

For six years he ignored the barbed comments which, he said, had made him 'a laughing stock'.
But, in October 2003, he decided enough was enough after Lewis-Smith wrote: 'I discovered that anyone could be fully doctored by Lasalle within months (no previous qualifications needed), just so long as they could answer the following question correctly, "Do you have 2,615 dollars, sir?".'
During the hearing, the High Court heard that La Salle was not officially accredited to award doctorate degrees.

Instead, it had been accredited by an organisation called the Council for Post-Secondary Christian Education - a bogus body set up by the La Salle's founder, Thomas Kirk, who later pleaded guilty to fraud.
None of this however was known to McKenna until after he got his PhD, the court was told. The hypnotist was simply one of La Salle's many 'innocent victims'.

What's more, rather than simply 'getting a degree in exchange for a cheque', McKenna had spent more than 500 hours on a 50,000 word thesis, later published in his best-selling book Change Your Life in Seven Days.

In his ruling, the judge openly questioned the value of the degree. However, he was adamant that McKenna had not tried to 'hoodwink' the court or the public when he referred to his PhD in his promotional material. He described the entertainer's performance in the witness box as 'determined, indignant, and manifestly proud of his work (whatever anybody else may think of it)'.  He concluded: 'Mr McKenna was not, in my judgment, dishonest and, for that matter, whatever one may think of the academic quality of the work, or of the degree granted by La Salle, it would not be accurate to describe it as "bogus".

'It was certainly not granted merely for money. The claimant is therefore entitled to succeed on liability.'

Lowly academic credentials

But any sense of triumph McKenna felt will be tempered by the ordeal of having had his lowly academic credentials pored over in public. Even the entertainer himself appeared doubtful as to whether the court action had enhanced his reputation.

He told Channel 4 News: 'Well, certainly, by bringing this to court - something I did not want to do - has actually put it on the radar. 'But I felt that I had no choice as I had to restore my reputation and protect the livelihood of those people that work for me. He (Lewis-Smith) did not show any signs of stopping saying these things.'

McKenna was born in Enfield, North London, the son of a builder and a home economics teacher. After leaving school with few qualifications, he began working as a DJ before joining Capital Radio in London in the mid-1980s.

His interest in hypnotism, however, soon took precedence. His television programmes, The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna and The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna, regularly attracted 12million viewers, and he acquired a raft of celebrity clients such as Sophie Dahl, David Beckham and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

He now lives in West London with a fortune in excess of £ 10million and hosts weight-loss and corporate leadership seminars which sell for up to £7,000 a ticket.

Although now single, his former girlfriends include GMTV's Penny Smith, golfer Colin Montgomerie's ex-wife Eimear and former fiancÈe, Claire Staples, who now works as his manager.
The case cost McKenna an estimated £5million in lost earnings because poor ticket sales led to the cancellation of tour dates.

The Daily Mirror was ordered to pay costs estimated in excess of £1.5million. But Mr Justice Eady indicated that McKenna may have to pick up some of his own expenses if they are deemed to be unreasonable for the newspaper to cover.

Damages will be decided in October and are expected to be between £20,000 and £50,000.
The Mirror said: 'We are disappointed with today's judgment but given that the case has yet to conclude, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this stage.'

Marianna Lead, New York - FAKE PhD!

Marianna Lead of the Goal Imagery Institute in New York is another one of those people who never earned a doctorate (and from what we can tell, it looks like she's also never even earned a bachelor's degree), yet LOVE to call themselves "Dr." at every possible opportunity.

She is apparently a "trainer" for the International Coach Federation and the International Association of Counselors and Therapists (right up there with one of the most notorious fake PhD's, Robert Otto).

As is the case with many of these scam artists, Marianna Lead fails to cite where any degrees were earned, or in what field. Readers of our blog know that this one of the red flags to look for when considering hiring or training with such an individual.

Another UK-Based PhD Fraud Renounces Bogus Degree

The individual wrote to us today and stated:

"I have been informed that I appear on your blog as having a fake doctorate. It should be noted, that when I was awarded my DCH, the American Institute of Hypnotherapy enjoyed state approval from California which I believed to be adequate oversight for the qualification. My PhD was awarded under similar circumstances with the assurance that accreditation was being worked on, and whilst this organisation did gain accreditation, they had to drop their PhD programme as part of the accreditation agreement. I ceased using that qualification, some years before I ceased using the DCH."

There is a saying that goes something like: Ignorantia juris non excusat. In other words, ignorance of the law is no excuse. It's not rocket science to figure out that a degree program is not legitimate, so we will proceed with any such excuse as just that -an excuse.

However, we acknowledge that this individual has removed any reference to themself as a Dr. or PhD on their website. We also acknowledge that, thanks to years of cross-pollination on the internet, it will be difficult, if not cost-prohibitive or impossible, to eliminate such references from sites not under the individual's control.

Holding to our agreement, with have removed this individual from our blog.

Fake PhD Realizes Error and Retracts Fake PhD

We have received confirmation that a UK-based hypnotist whose name was posted on this blog had retracted their false use of doctoral credentials. This individual informed us of the following:

"I was of the understanding that Alpha [University] was licenced by the US education authority. I do not wish to be a part of a fake document, and considered using this was legitimate.

All PhD references to me on my web sites and other areas have now been removed. I possess many qualifications including medical qualifications which are genuine."

We give this person accolades for stepping up, admitting their mistake, and for making the necessary adjustments in their marketing. 

We have kept our word and removed any reference to this individual on our blog.

Redemption Day

Today alone we received hundreds of emails with great accolades about our mission to expose phony doctorates. We will try something new, an idea that several writers volunteered.

If you are one of those individuals who are exposed, we will give you an opportunity to redeem yourself. Eliminate ANY AND ALL references to your phony diploma from your site and marketing materials, and notify us of such, and we will remove your page from this blog.

This is our contribution to cleaning up your profession. Your fancy "ethical" organizations won't do it, but we can.

There's nothing wrong with admitting you made a mistake. You're only human.

So, go for it. Let's see how many of you can make things right.

Kay Walkinshaw - FAKE PhD

Kay F. Walkinshaw, a hypnosis provider in Potomac, MD and Annandale, VA claims to have a PhD but will not say in what field or the name of the school she attended. She is a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists and also the "founder" of the International Council for Medical and Clinical Therapists. She is also a member of the American Holistic Medical Association, American Counseling Association, American Mental Health Counselors Association, Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists, International Association of Regression Research Therapists, Association of Research and Enlightenment, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, and the National Federation of Neurolinguistic Psychology. She also teaches a non-credit hypnosis course at the the Northern Virginia Community College. None care that she has a Doctorate of FRAUD.

Patti Conklin, Stone Mountain, GA - FAKE Doctorate! - UPDATED

Patti Conklin of Healing Within, Inc. in Stone Mountain, Georgia is another individual who falsely claims to be a doctor. Ladies and gentleman....she is not a doctor and has never earned a doctorate. In fact, our research shows that she hasn't even earned an undergraduate degree (although we'd love to hear from her to correct that if necessary).

Patti Conklin wrote that she "was honored with a Ph.D. for my life work in public service" from the Alpha University. RED FLAG!

An honorary degree from a non-accredited, non-recognized institution? Alpha University is a known degree mill (See http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/12/alpha-university-degree-mill.html). She is in the company of other PhD fraudsters who claim to have earned a doctorate there, including Roy Hunter and Terence Watts.

We affirm that Patti Conklin is fraudulently purporting to have earned a PhD.

She is a member of the International Association of Counselors and Therapists and the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association.

Melissa Roth - Boulder, CO & Birmingham, AL FAKE PhD

Melissa J. Roth of the Colorado Hypnosis Center and the Alabama Hypnotherapy Center and Hypnosis Associates.

Now HERE'S a firecracker that attempts to justify her using a FAKE PhD by providing the argument that she has made contributions to the field of hypnosis. If you're THAT good, Melissa Roth, you wouldn't need to fake a degree. And providing "contributions" to a field isn't exactly how a person earns a degree, Melissa Roth. But you wouldn't know that, would you, since it appears that you have never spent a day in college.

She proclaims that she is "PROUD" of her act of fraud and is "PROUD" to be amongst the ranks of other fraudsters that we mentioned, including Terence Watts, and Roy Hunter. So go ahead and be proud, Melissa Roth, of the fact that you never earned a PhD yet you are telling the world that you did (and yes, you do advertise it. Look at the screen shot of your website and think again). In response to what you wrote below, who cares whether you started using PhD after your name after 10 years of practicing hypnosis or after 10 days? You never earned it and you are a fraud for using it.

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UPDATE

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We dug a little deeper into Ms. Roth's past. It appears that she goes back and forth between what doctorate she thinks she has actually earned.  We found on the site called Higher Self Communications, operated by another person who calls herself a doctor yet received it from the diploma mill called American Pacific University (that person is now in our sights, by the way...so many degree frauds, yet so little time!)

Anyway, a nice little testimonial provided by Melissa Roth refers to herself as Melissa Roth, DCH(c). Apparently she claimed to be a doctoral candidate at one time.

And another reference to Melissa Roth, DCH(c) at HypnosisOnline.com

 

 

And last by not the least, we find Melissa Roth, PhDc (we assume the "c" stands for candidate) at SportsHypnotists.com:

NaturalNews uncovers epidemic of fake doctorates and graduate degrees from online diploma mills

Came across this great article that discusses the prevalence of degree mills in today's world.

naturalnews.com printable article

Originally published June 6 2012
From http://www.naturalnews.com/z036087_diploma_mills_fake_degrees_doctorate.html

NaturalNews uncovers epidemic of fake doctorates and graduate degrees from online diploma mills

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) While investigating our recent story on the faked academic credentials of a key informant in the Rawesome Foods case in California (http://www.naturalnews.com/036076_Aajonus_Vonderplanitz_doctorate_nut...), we received a large number of tips and documents revealing something rather astonishing: There is an epidemic of fake diplomas across America.

The diploma mill known as "Richmonds University" appears to be cited in hundreds of online resumes from people who have attained surprisingly high positions in society. For example, one man named Roy David Williams managed to acquire a fake doctorate in nuclear engineering from Richmonds University, and he went on to be awarded government contracts based on that diploma. He was later prosecuted for fraud (http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel09/williams_pantex_indict_pr....).

His fake diploma is shown here:
www.naturalnews.com/rawesome/images/Roy-David-Williams-diploma.jpg

We found the same "Richmonds University" cited in a bio of the executive director of the Kern County Bar Association (http://www.kernbar.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=12). That woman's Linkedin.com profile also claims a degree from "Richmonds University" (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/caroline-wilson/13/a7b/459).

Kern County is located in California (Bakersfield), by the way, and the Kern County Bar Association website says, "The Kern County Bar Association provides leadership in advancing the professional interests of the membership and serving the legal interests of the community." (http://www.kernbar.org/index.cfm)

Doctorate in chemical engineering

A New Jersey man, Dr. Kenneth Hofbauer, claims to have received a "Doctorate Degree in Chemical Engineering, 2004, PH.D., Magna cum Laude, Richmonds University, London, England." (http://execmktg.com/khofbauer/education.php)

Being quite the academic, he also claims to have a "Masters of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering, 1998, M.S., Magna cum Laude, Richmonds University, London, England."

Remember as you read this that Richmonds University does not exist as a real entity. The entire thing is fabricated. This is an online diploma mill that produces academic credentials which appear to be legitimate and are designed to fool prospective employers, reporters, clients or anyone else inquiring about a person's academic achievements.

See more resumes at Linkedin.com

Search any search engine for "linkedin.com Richmonds University" and see what you get. Or just click the following link for a Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Alinkedin.com+"richmonds+univers...

There, you will see "Richmonds University" degrees claimed by law enforcement officers, energy company plant managers, finance capital firms, hotel managers and much more.

Diploma mills offer to sell diplomas for virtually any degree you wish: Nuclear engineering, chemical engineering, physics, MBA degrees, etc. One diploma mill we checked out was www.DiplomaXpress.com which said the only degrees it would not sell are medical degrees and legal degrees. Everything else is fair game (although the site does say, in its small print, that the diplomas are for "novelty purposes only").

Want to get your PhD in civil engineering and get a job at the city manager's office? No problem, you can buy your degree online!

Looking to publish a book with a PhD next to your name and get invited to do interviews and television appearances with the authority of being a "doctor?" No sweat, you can just lay out some cash and you're a doctor!

Want to impress people with your knowledge but don't have time to actually earn an academic degree? Who cares? Whip out your credit card and you've suddenly got a diploma with a gold seal!

Want to work in the Department of Homeland Security? All you need is a fake degree, see? As Wikipedia reports: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_mills_in_the_United_States)

In 2004, Laura Callahan resigned from the United States Department Of Homeland Security after it was learned that she had received her doctorate from the unaccredited Hamilton University (not to be confused with the fully accredited Hamilton College in Clinton, New York). Callahan had previously been a senior director at the DHS and held supervisory positions at the United States Department of Labor and within the Bill Clinton White House. According to an article in Reason magazine, "The (Callahan) scandal raises serious doubts about the government's ability to vet the qualifications of public employees on whom the nation's security depends."

Fake transcripts, fake letters of recommendation, fake diplomas and a fake verification service

Thanks to diploma mills, you can purchase online diplomas that come complete with:

• A fake diploma document
• Fake transcripts
• Fake letters of recommendation
• Fake fax and email verification services

I recently interviewed "Jake," a whistleblower who purchased a fake diploma online and wanted to clear his conscience of the matter. Here's what Jake told me on the phone:

Jake: "A friend told me about the website where you could get these diplomas. You sign up under one website, and they redirect you to another site," he told me. "There, you are instructed to send in a descriptive history of everything you've ever done. They asked me to detail all my life experience to see if I would qualify under equivalency."

The way this works, as you may have guessed, is that you describe to the diploma mill all the things you've done in your life, and then they "award" you a fake diploma based on this life experience. And, um... a sizeable payment.

When I asked Jake what life experience he submitted to the diploma mill, he replied, "I coached soccer. I was into sports. I did things involving sports."

"After they reviewed this information," he continued, "they got back to me and said yes I do qualify for the doctorate degree. At that point I paid them some money."

"How much money?" I asked.

"A thousand dollars or so," Jake said. "The rates depended on whether you wanted a full transcript or not, and letters from professors."

A full transcript? Really?

"Yes," Jake said. "They would create a fake transcript showing all the classes you ever took, with class descriptions, credit hours, your grades and everything. They sent it to me as part of the package."

And what about the letters from professors?

"They even offered for an extra fee that they would write letters of recommendation from your professors, and that you could use those letters to get job interviews, or whatever you wanted to use them for."

And how would all this hold up under scrutiny if someone tried to confirm your academic background?

"They sent me a letter that told me how to use all this to deceive employers. They included an email address and a fax number. It said that the fax number would be used to respond to any inquiries, and they would confirm everything about my degree and my transcript. They said it was something about federal law that all employers checking your education have to do it by fax."

All of his documents -- with his real name redacted -- are now archived on NaturalNews:

Fake diploma:
www.naturalnews.com/rawesome/images/phony-Richmonds-university-7.jpg

Instructions on how to deceive employers:
http://www.naturalnews.com/rawesome/images/phony-Richmonds-university...

Fake transcripts:
http://www.naturalnews.com/rawesome/images/phony-Richmonds-university...
http://www.naturalnews.com/rawesome/images/phony-Richmonds-university...

Fake letter of recommendation:
www.naturalnews.com/rawesome/images/phony-Richmonds-university-1.jpg

Fake diplomas are more common than you think

Most people are far too trusting of other people. They give others the benefit of the doubt and tend to believe anyone who confidently claims to have a "PhD" or other academic credential.

But faked academic credentials are far more common than you might suspect, and the sophistication of the fake diploma factories is impressive. Their fax and email verification services fool most employers, especially when employers like the TSA don't even conduct background checks and end up hiring pedophiles, drug dealers and thieves on a regular basis.

How to not get fooled by fake academic credentials

When someone says to you that they have a PhD in something, you should immediately ask, "From where?" And when they tell you the university, you should check it out and make sure it's real. Better yet, call the alumni office of the university in question and ask to fact check that person's academic credentials.

It is the lack of skepticism among the public that allows fake diploma fraudsters to get away with deception. Using their fake degrees, they often gain recognition or authority that they haven't truly earned. They use this to parlay their way into the media, websites, book publishers or even lucrative salaried positions and government jobs. This only happens because not enough people fact-check academic credentials.

Far too many people make outrageous claims or wildly exaggerate claims of their personal achievements in order to impress others. We all like to speak highly of ourselves, and we all tell small "social lies" to each other ("Does this dress make me look fat?"), but lies about academic training fall into the category of big lies -- especially when they involve other people putting their lives in your hands: Nuclear engineering, civil engineering, nutritional consulting and so on.

To think that people are running around America right now, operating nuclear facilities, building bridges or playing doctor based on nothing more than phony pieces of paper that say "diploma" is horrifying. How many industrial accidents, personal deaths, injuries or catastrophic failures have been caused by people lying their way into a position of authority for which they were not qualified?

Search the internet for "Richmonds University" and you'll be flabbergasted at what you find. Try to buy your own fake diploma and you'll be amazed how easy it is to get one.

Why people so easily believe false symbols of authority

You'll also be amazed at how easy it is to fool most people with a fake degree. People in America today have been brainwashed to believe anything they are told by "authorities." So merely donning the symbols and signs of authority -- such as "Ph.D." -- causes people to unconsciously bow down to your superiority. Hucksters and scam artists exploit this failure to question authority as a key strategy in pulling off their cons.

TSA "officers," by the way, dress up in the costumes of "officers" for exactly the same reason. In truth, they aren't sworn officers at all. They take no oaths of office, they have no law enforcement training, and they technically have no authority whatsoever, operating in total violation of U.S. law and the Bill of Rights. Yet 99.99% of Americans automatically bow down to TSA goons merely because they wear the costume in a law enforcement officer. The outfit you see a TSA goon wearing at the airport is no different from a Ninja costume you might wear on Halloween. Wearing the costume does not make you a Ninja.

People are trained to obey symbols of authority. Why do you think doctors still wear those silly white lab coats around? Why do people take whatever drugs their doctors tell them to take without asking a single skeptical question about the safety of those drugs? Why do fluoride heads line up at pharmacies to be vaccinated with mercury and brain-damaging chemicals? Because they obey authority. And fake diplomas give con artists that same power of false authority over the weak-minded.

For those who currently have fake diplomas and are trying to pass them off as legitimate, I encourage you to ditch the deception and come clean. Sooner or later, someone is going to check into your academic credentials and expose you. It is better to have your reputation and integrity intact than to take the risk of getting caught faking your degree. After all, someone who would fake a degree can't really be trusted on much else, can they? There is a reason it's called "academic fraud."

Cal Banyan & Rev. Giles - Advocates speaking out against Fake PhDs

I caught an interesting article posted in 2008 by Cal Banyan, when he referred to Rev. Scott Giles' article entitled, "Shooting Yourself in the Foot Part #1: Real v. Fake Credentials." Banyan wrote:

Bravo Rev. C. Scot Giles, DNGH! In case you don’t know who Rev. Giles is, he writes for the National Guild of Hypnotists, Journal of Hypnotism, which just arrived in my mailbox today. I loved his latest article, Shooting Yourself in the Foot Part #1: Real v. Fake Credentials. In this article, he talks about such things as “The Mail-Order Degree“, “The Internet Ordination” and “The Silly Title“.
My favorite part was about fake hypnosis degrees. I just can’t stand it when someone comes up to me and tells me that they have a “PhD” or other kind of “doctorate” in hypnosis! I don’t know about every country in the world, but I do know that there is no such thing in the USA.
I don’t mean to make people who have these fake degrees angry at me, but I just have to tell them that you are doing EVERYONE a HUGE disservice by promoting yourself and your service by holding out these fake degrees in hypnotism, hypnosis and hypnotherapy.First of all, as Rev. Giles will tell you, these degrees, even if they take some work to get, do not rise to the level of study required to achieve a real academic degree. These fake hypnosis degrees are not recognized by any organization who would grant a real degree. In most cases you will find that these “degree granting” organizations will say that they ARE accredited. But with a bit more research, you will find that they created the organization that is accrediting them! Essentially, this means that they have accredited themselves. This is bad for the hypnotist who will be found out eventually. It is bad for the profession because when hypnotists are discovered to have false credentials, it makes everyone in the profession look bad. It is bad for our clients, because they are being misled to select a hypnotist based on false credentials. I have known people with these false degrees who could not hypnotize anyone! Nor could they carry on a intelligent conversation on the topic of hypnosis, hypnotherapy or hypnotism. I personally think these fake degrees should be outlawed. Bravo Rev. Giles for writing your article, and thank you NGH for printing it! 

This is wonderful testimony about the dangers of hypnotists bearing false credentials. There is one problem, however, in that both Banyan and Giles are leaders of the National Guild of Hypnotists, an organization who tends to turn their heads at fake credentials. Simply review this blog to see a number of NGH members who lie about the credentials. I applaud Banyan and Giles, but they have the influence to make such changes at the NGH and, well, obviously nothing has changed since 2008.

To read the entire article, go to: http://www.calbanyan.com/archives/2008/03/05/rev-giles-on-real-v-fake-credentials/