A federal court case accuses UF trustee James W. “Bill” Heavener of defrauding the government by inflating numbers at two universities he manages.
A federal court case in California alleged Winter Park’s Full Sail University and the west coast-based Los Angeles Film School defrauded the government of tens of millions of dollars over the past decade by inflating job placement numbers to continue receiving federal financial aid. Heavener and his partners own both colleges.
Heavener has served on the UF Board of Trustees since 2013 and is the CEO of The Heavener Company.
UF’s James W. "Bill" Heavener Football Training Center was named after him because of the “generous financial contributions” he made to the center. Heavener has also given nearly over $1.2 million to the Republican Party over the course of 18 years.
The complaint, filed last year, alleges the institutions paid employers over the past decade to hire students after graduation, often for jobs that lasted less than a week. The colleges needed to hit a 70% post-graduate employment threshold to qualify for more federal funding.
According to the complaint, Full Sail receives $377 million per year in federal funding. LAFS received $164 million per year in federal financial assistance, student loans and veterans’ financial aid funds.
UF spokesperson Cynthia Roldan declined to comment on the allegations. Heavener did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
David Phillips, LAFS’s former vice president of career development, and Ben Chaib, the school’s former vice president of admissions, filed the case. They claimed Heavener and Diana Derycz-Kessler, the previous president and CEO of the university, gave direction and were in extensive contact for the “fraudulent schemes described.”
They alleged “the vast majority of LAFS graduates were not able to obtain entry level positions” in the motion picture industry. The complaint quotes an internal document stating that “most [grads] report a yearly income of 0-$5,000 in their field of study.”
Derycz-Kessler and her husband, Paul Kessler, have a business partnership with Heavener and own 25% share of LAFS. The complaint alleges Kessler “became a major investor in and CEO of Wizard World Entertainment, LLC, which was used to finance and create fake jobs so LAFS could claim it met federal ‘gainful employment’ requirements.”
The complaint claims Full Sail and LAFS are “linked so tightly that LAFS’ accounting and paychecks are issued from within the FS Winter Park, Florida offices.”
Phillips and Chaib claimed the operations of the schools, despite being separated across two coasts, were tightly knit and the fraudulent activities were coordinated by Heavener at both locations. Full Sail denied the allegations, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
According to its website, LAFS offers an immersive curriculum that integrates technical knowledge with creativity and expression. It offers degrees in animation, film production, media production and other related fields at a tuition of about $4,300 per semester.
Full Sail offers degree programs aimed at students interested in entertainment media and emerging technologies. The average tuition ranges from $70,000 to $90,000 per year, and Newsweek ranked it No.152 in top online universities in the nation this year.
Heavener serves as a director of the Davey O’Brien Foundation, and he serves on the boards of the Tim Tebow Foundation, University of Florida Alumni Association and The University of Florida Foundation. He won a Lifetime Philanthropist Award in 2018.
The complaint alleges Heavener said there weren’t jobs for LAFS graduates.
“Full-time jobs don’t exist for these people, they don’t exist,” the complaint claims he said.
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@thealligator.org. Follow her on X at @s_maharaj1611. Contact Maria Avlonitis at mavlonitis@alligator.org. Follow her on X @MariaAvlonitis.
Swasthi is the Fall 2025 university administration reporter. She's previously worked as general assignment reporter with The Alligator, and you can also find her work in Rowdy Magazine or The Florida Finibus. When she's not staring at her laptop screen or a textbook, she's probably taking a long walk or at a yoga class.
Maria is the Fall 2025 university editor of the Alligator. She previously worked as the university administration reporter Summer 2025. Maria enjoys walking her dog, and on the rare occassion she has free time, she loves attempting to garden and salsa dancing.
