American Biographical Institute
American Biographical Institute Industry Who's Who scam Fate Bankrupt in 2012 Founded 1967 Defunct 2012 Headquarters Raleigh, North Carolina , United States Products Sale of, awards and biographical reference directories Owner Arlene Calhoun Number of employees 1 (2012) The American Biographical Institute ( ABI ) was a paid-inclusion vanity biographical reference directory publisher, a so-callescam]], based in Raleigh, North Carolina which had been publishing biographies since 1967. It generated revenue from sales of fraudulent certificates and books. Each year the company awarded hundreds of "Man of the Year" or "Woman of the Year" awards at between $195 and $295 each. Its awards were frequently denounced as scams by politicians, [1] journalists, [2] [3] and others. [4] [5] [6] The Government of Western Australia's ScamNet service considers the American Biographical Institute to be a scam vanity publisher ...