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When Jason Scott Cord, a third-year joint law and business student, went for an interview last fall with the prestigious New York firm of Cravath, Swain and Moore, he told one lie too many. Cord told the interviewer he was a big-time college placekicker, and the interviewer, who knew his football, got suspicious and contacted the University, and the greatest hoax in Harvard's history began to unfold.
Cord, it turned out, had allegedly faked his way into the Law School with false transcripts, false recommendations and a false name. What's more, this wasn't the first time. Under his real name, Spiro M. Pavlovich III, he had entered the Law School in 1968 only to be thrown out as an imposter in 1971.
Pavlovich changed his name, returned to Harvard and continued telling tall tales of fame and glory to dozens of law and business school acquaintances. But the second time he got caught, the situation was more serious. On December 10, the FBI arrested him for allegedly falsifying the applications for federally-insured loans.
By January, the plot got thicker. Pavlovich's wife, Monette Pavlovich, alias Cary Monica Cabot, was arrested for doing the same thing at the Business School. In February, the pair were indicted.
Soon after, Spiro reappeared at the Law School in disguise, proclaimed his innocence and confided to a friend, "Everyone just assumes Spiro Paviovich is real."
Both Pavlovichs face trial this summer.
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