Minister Charged in Student Aid Fraud

A Los Angeles minister has been indicted on charges of advising college-bound teenagers how to cheat the student aid system by falsely claiming to be orphans, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.

Ozell Clifford Brazil, 52, was accused of counseling students about how to beat the system in seminars he gave from 1996 through 2000 at Loyola Marymount University and First AME Church, where he was ordained.

A grand jury indictment charged him with 13 counts of mail fraud and seven counts of defrauding the student financial aid program. Thirteen of the students Brazil advised were granted immunity but must pay back more than $250,000 in school aid.

Brazil could not be reached for comment, but his lawyer, William J. Genego, called the charges unfounded.

“Rev. Brazil has known about the investigation for more than two years and he continues to adamantly assert his innocence,” Genego said.

Over the years, the attorney said, Brazil has helped many hundreds of “at-risk youngsters get into college, a lot of them on scholarship. I think it’s unfortunate that because a few of the people might have misused the information he gave them, the government wants to hold him responsible.”

Brazil founded his Los Angeles Community Outreach Program at Loyola Marymount in 1995. His lawyer described the program as a yearlong “self-esteem course,” only part of which was devoted to applying for financial aid.

According to the indictment, which was returned Thursday, Brazil knowingly assisted students in filing false applications for federal student aid with the U.S. Department of Education.

In addition to instructions that he provided during seminars and private meetings with students, Brazil wrote letters to colleges falsely claiming that the students were not receiving any financial help from their parents, the indictment said.

According to Assistant U.S. Atty. Paul Rochmes, students paid $75 to $250 to attend Brazil’s seminars. Genego called the figures misleading. He said the amounts represented requested donations for the yearlong course.

“Those were nominal contributions. My client had no financial motive,” he said.

Rochmes said the government is taking steps to recover more than $250,000 in aid the 13 students received, plus interest and possible civil penalties.

Federal authorities are also attempting to track down all other students who might have attended Brazil’s seminars and filed fraudulent aid applications.

He said the loss figure could rise significantly as more bogus applications are identified.

The U.S. attorney’s office said neither Loyola Marymount nor the First AME Church is suspected of involvement in the alleged fraud.

Brazil earned a law degree and two master’s degrees before he was ordained as a minister at the First AME Church in South-Central Los Angeles.

He served as a pastor in Lompoc for a year, then returned to Los Angeles, where he established the outreach program. In its first year, he said he was providing guidance to about 450 high school students.

Brazil is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 15 in Los Angeles federal court.