Seattle Driving School Caught Taking Money To Pass Students

A Seattle driving school was shut down after the operator was under fire for fraudulently passing students on driving tests in return for money.

According to KING5, the Department of Licensing (DOL) operators started investigating the operator of Emerald City Driving School in May after they received a report that the operator was exchanging passing driving tests for money.

"They did witness groups of individuals arriving and leaving without having taken a driver's license skills test," DOL Communications Manager Christine Anthony told KING5. "He admitted to our investigators that he'd been involved in doing fraudulent testing over the past several years."

The owner Steve Wong admitted to investigators that he had been taking cash to pass students for several years.

Emerald City Driving School is now closed with no more signage at the front of the business, according to KING5. The news team also attempted to call their main line on Thursday evening (August 26) and the call was not returned.

The DOL's investigation is still ongoing and staff is continuing to comb through their records.

According to Anthony, they have been selling passing grades for driver's licenses for possibly two to three years.

Wong had his driver testing contract terminated and the school license was suspended, according to KOMO News.