Remember Paragon Institute and it's IndieGoGo campaign called Marvel Heroes Rebirth? You may recall its hope to talk Disney in to buying up the assets from the now-closed Marvel Heroes Online? If so, you'll be fascinated to read MMOFallout's discovery (via MMOBomb) when trying to track down the Institute and its owner. While nothing outright fraudulent appears to be going on, the writer feels that there are more than a few red flags raised with regard to the "Institute" itself, as well as the credentials of its founder.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Paragon Institute leads to a site called Paragon Academy
- the Academy has a physical location in Cary, North Carolina
- the location is a residential neighborhood and can be seen using Google Maps
- photos depict school kids engaged in educational pursuit, though it's been determined they are slightly altered public versions
- one link mentioned on the Academy's site mentions Chadwick University, a "diploma mill" and a non-accredited university that was shut down in 2007.
- Chadwick U was founded by a woman named Maxine Asher, a psychic, who founded another diploma mill that shut down after her death in 2016
- Paragon Inc's founder is Willis Adkins currently running for Congress in North Carolina
- Paragon Institute former was known as American Southern University Inc.
The Indiegogo page currently shows that only $335 of $450,000 has been raised.
The original site to break the investigation open was MMOBomb.
You can check the full report by visiting MMOFallout.
