When there is a lack of consistent oversight or control, any program can be considered unmonitored and therefore vulnerable to any opportunistic fraudster – a big problem for government run programs, like the U.S. Department of Education student loan forgiveness program. College graduates across the country saddled with student debt have become prime targets for fraudsters eager for a piece of the student loan industry. Like Angela Kathryn Mirabella who, from 2017 to 2020, netted more than $6 million from an estimated 19,000 victims nationwide, in a personal identifying information scheme, with the victims unwittingly handing over their identities to her.
Mirabella was the founder of The Mirabella Group LLC, Student Renew LLC and My Financial Solution – supposed student loan advisement companies that were only call centers aiming to swindle student loan holders with promises of debt relief. For a small monthly fee of $1,000. “Congratulations, you’ve been pre-approved” for loan forgiveness. Based on that opening sales pitch, loan holders believed they were talking to the Department of Education. Mirabella’s employees would first ask the loan holders for an email and a date of birth so they could access federal files. They would then change the terms of the victim’s student aid and contact information without their knowledge or consent.
The victims paid fees believing they were receiving the debt relief offered by Mirabella. But they instead often ended up with higher student loan interest, defaults and late notices. The student loan holders assumed the fees they paid went toward the loans. But the money the loan holders paid to help win student loan forgiveness went directly to Angela Mirabella’s bank account.
On June 21, 2025, Mirabella was sentenced to one year in prison for identity theft in a $6 million nationwide student loan fraud scheme.
Great job by the Department of Education in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Woman sentenced to one year in jail for $6M student loan fraud scheme” published by 2Urban Girls News on June 21, 2025.
The owner of a Huntington Beach-based company was sentenced Friday to five years of formal probation and a year in jail for identity theft in an alleged $6 million nationwide student loan fraud scheme.
Angela Kathryn Mirabella, 50, was convicted on Sept. 3 of one felony count of identity theft. During the trial 24 other felony counts were thrown out, and jurors, who deliberated for 11 days, deadlocked on 62 other counts including conspiracy, computer access and fraud, identity theft, grand theft and money laundering.
