There is still bad blood between the tech boot camp MyTech Bestfriend and many of its former students, according to a group of people.
Mary Awodele, the founder of the Texas-based MTBF, had an altercation with her students. The MTBF program, which cost up to $6,000, consisted of plagiarized courses that could be found online for a cheaper price, according to students. At the time, she said she couldn't comment because of the legal proceedings.
The people who spoke up against Awo Dele are struggling to get refunds and face continued harassment.
She plans to change the company's name in the new year. She hired a Texas-based lawyer, Kim Daily, and brought on a Florida attorney who is a consultant for the project. Awodele and Daily did not reply to the questions sent to them. There are no plans to change the name of the organization.
The students said they started contacting Stripe to request refunds. The new program it hopes to launch is for people who are Affirm, Klarna, or Afterpay kind of people. The new program would have to vet prospective students to make sure it had a mature crowd.
Fees paid to participate in the courses are a point of contention between Awodele and her students. Even though the course contract students signed said that the MTBF wouldn't process any refunds, Awodele told students she would give refunds to those who wanted to quit. The students said that the refunds have been inconsistent.
Shay, a former student who requested to go by their nickname, will be getting his money back in 10 days. Shay followed up, but MTBF replied. Please don't email us again if you call your bank. I would like to thank you.
There were more allegations about the program's deception. Some students showed that their transactions were processed as gifts rather than services in order to avoid paying a tax on their generated revenue. According to David Reischer of Reischer & Reischer, two financial experts and an attorney, if these purchases were processed as gifts, it would be a revenue misclassification that impacts the way the tax is calculated and could land Awodele in serious trouble with the law.
The MTBF was unaware that scholarships were being processed as gifts.
In cases where she lost bank disputes, Awodele threatened to report students to credit bureaus. MTBF never sent anyone to a credit bureau but did engage with Fidelity Information Corporation.
Victoria, a former student, used a pseudonym for fear of reprisals from Awodele, and successfully disputed the tuition of MTBF. She received a letter from Fidelity Information Corporation, a debt collector. The address listed in the letter as an apartment building in Houston is not the one in Los Angeles. ender said that this is due to FIC. FIC was not reachable for comment.
The Texas Workforce Commission, the FBI, and the IRS have all been contacted by students regarding the allegations against MTBF. The IRS and FBI did not respond to requests for comment. At least one former student said the FBI and FTC reached out to them, and that's according to the person.
The students who spoke about the allegations are still being harassed. On December 15th, Charlie woke up to a text message that said her name was in a pot in Haiti.
Make sure you pray for the bad things in your life. When you start to get bad luck. Know it is us. There is nothing left to do. Let it be The photo of what appears to be an object used for witchcraft was included in the text message.
The founder of MTBF is a Christian and Nigerian, according to a report. He said that the school does use hippie-esque practices with students.
He didn't mention anything against enemies.
Charlie, who is being kept out of the picture, believes that Awodele gave her number to people to intimidate her. Awodele had a group called #MTBFSPECIALFORCES which she sent out to people who spoke up against her. Two hours after TechCrunch reached out to Awodele and her lawyer for comment, Charlie received a message from Bender, who wrote that MTBF "nor its affiliates" were involved with the alleged threats
If you have received any threats, please report them to law enforcement and the MTBF will help with any investigations. Charlie said there was nothing else to say.
The fear that is keeping most students in the program is due to the fear of being retaliated against by Awo Dele, according to a current student who asked to remain anonymous. It is not known how many students have dropped out of the program.
Amber, a former student using a pseudonym, said that the founder was a "narcissistic with a God complex" who needed to be shut down. We won't stop until she can't do this to anyone else
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