New Jersey school operator sentenced over fraudulent nursing diploma pipeline
Vilaire Duroseau owned and operated the Center for Advance Training and Studies in West Orange, New Jersey, which the Justice Department's "Operation Nightingale" investigation identified as another recruiting operation feeding candidates toward fraudulent Florida nursing diplomas. A federal jury convicted Duroseau of wire fraud in December 2023 after trial alongside co-defendants Gail Russ and Cassandre Jean. On April 2, 2024, US District Judge Raag Singhal sentenced Duroseau to 33 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered forfeiture of $1,381,913.40, with instructions to surrender to authorities in Newark on April 5, 2024.
- Year
- 2024
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $1.4 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Nursing diploma mill fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-27
The facts, as recorded
- Vilaire Duroseau owned and operated the Center for Advance Training and Studies in West Orange, New Jersey, described in reporting on the case as a recruiter who brought candidates toward the fraudulent diploma scheme.
- A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found Duroseau guilty of wire fraud on December 15, 2023, following a roughly three-week trial.
- On April 2, 2024, US District Judge Raag Singhal sentenced Duroseau to 33 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
- Duroseau was ordered to forfeit $1,381,913.40 and to surrender to authorities in Newark, New Jersey on April 5, 2024.
- Search warrants in the broader Operation Nightingale investigation were executed in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Florida, reflecting the multi-state recruiting network that fed the Florida-based diploma schools.
Why this case matters
Duroseau’s New Jersey operation, like Cassandre Jean’s in Brooklyn, shows this scheme was never confined to Florida. The diplomas were issued by Florida-licensed schools, but the recruiting that fed them ran through at least two other states, exactly the kind of multi-state structure that led federal investigators to execute search warrants in five states at once.
A pipeline, not a single storefront
Reporting on the case places Duroseau’s business on the recruiting side of the scheme, finding and preparing out-of-state candidates to travel toward the Florida schools issuing the fraudulent paperwork, rather than producing the diplomas himself. That division of labor, recruiters in multiple states feeding diploma mills based in one, is part of why the investigation took federal agents, not a single state licensing board, to unwind.
The caveat
Vilaire Duroseau was convicted by a federal jury in December 2023 and sentenced in April 2024; this is a completed criminal case, not an allegation. The $1,381,913.40 forfeiture reflects what the court ordered him personally to forfeit, not an estimate of every dollar that moved through the wider, multi-state recruiting network tied to Operation Nightingale.
Sources
- Defunct nursing school registrar sentenced to 78 months in prison. WPTV (Scripps). Accessed 2026-10-27. Supports: Duroseau's ownership of the Center for Advance Training and Studies in West Orange, New Jersey, his role as recruiter, his 33-month sentence, three years of supervised release, the $1,381,913.40 forfeiture, and the sentencing judge and date.
- Palm Beach fraudsters sentenced in bogus nursing diploma scheme, nearly $7m in forfeitures ordered. Hoodline. Accessed 2026-10-27. Supports: The over $1.3 million forfeiture figure, the April 2, 2024 sentencing date, and the instruction to surrender to authorities in Newark on April 5.
- Fraudulent Nursing Diploma Scheme Leads to Federal Charges Against 25 Defendants. US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Accessed 2026-10-27. Supports: The multi-state search warrants executed in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Florida as part of the broader Operation Nightingale investigation.