The Marinello Schools of Beauty will close all 56 of its campuses, including dozens of schools in California.
The closures will leave more than four thousand students in the lurch, and 800 employees stand to lose their jobs.
The closures follow the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement last week that it was moving to cut financial assistance programs at Marinello campuses in California and Nevada.
The DOE says Marinello requested federal aid for students based on invalid high school diplomas, failed to properly disburse aid and made misrepresentations to students. It also accused Marinello of charging students excessive overtime fees if they missed classes.
Marinnello has been owned for more than a decade by Beverly Hills-based B&H Education. A company spokesman tells the Daily News that the DOE accusations are based on flawed information.
The action against Marinello is the latest chapter in the DOE’s ongoing crackdown on for-profit colleges that rely heavily on government-backed student financial aid to operate. Last year, industry giant Corinthian College was forced to close or sell all of its schools after it was accused of preying on vulnerable students with misleading promises about their job prospects.
Marinnello has campuses in downtown L.A., Reseda, Burbank, Huntington Beach, Whittier, Simi Valley, Ontario and many other locations in Southern California.