Harvard Faker Story Takes Off

Adam Wheeler, a Harvard student whose allegedly excessive resume inflation made him a global headline, faces 20 criminal charges of identity fraud, larceny, falsifying an endorsement or approval and pretending to hold a degree.

The Harvard Crimson reported Monday that Wheeler, 23, allegedly faked his pedigree in pursuit of the Harvard endorsement for both the United States Rhodes Scholarship and the Fulbright Scholarship. Wheeler, who transferred to Harvard after being kicked out of Bowdoin College in Maine for academic dishonesty, allegedly forged his way into Harvard with false transcripts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the elite Phillips Academy in Andover, according to the Boston Globe. He claimed a perfect score of 1600 on his SAT, the Globe reported Tuesday. He went to a public high school in his native Delaware.

“This defendant seriously undermined the integrity of the competitive admissions process, compromised the reputation of some of the finest educators and educational institutions in the country, and cheated those who competed honestly for what he fraudulently received,’’ Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said in a statement.

While Wheeler was caught, Harvard has attracted high profile fakers in the past in the past, according to a list compiled by AOL News. The list shows that the institution is highly competitive but still vulnerable to identity fraud and other forms of fakery.