Prosecutor charges Brazilian over alleged fraudulent postgraduate courses

A Brazilian national faces charges of document forgery and fraud for allegedly operating an unregistered postgraduate program in Paraguay. The prosecutor's office has requested his house arrest due to a significant flight risk.

The suspect, identified as Ismael Fenner, was in charge of giving lectures for the "Instituto Superior Interamericano de Ciencias Sociales" (Isics). Authorities, accompanied by the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) and the National Council of Higher Education (Cones), raided an event at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Asunción. They discovered the institute was clandestinely operating and allegedly offering postgraduate degrees without proper legal or academic accreditation.

Students reported being drawn to Isics by its low cost, with postgraduate courses priced at $6,000, significantly less than similar programs in Brazil, which can cost around $24,000. This is not the first time Isics has faced scrutiny; the Cones intervened against the same institute in April of this year for operating without authorization.

Currently, there is a legal dispute between Ismael Fenner and those recognized by Cones to operate Isics. The latter is managed by the company "Red Calidad Educativa SA," owned by Carlos David Paoli Vera and attorney Christian Elpidio Acevedo.

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there is a 'concrete' risk of flight.