Texas shuts down two Plano massage schools over fraud concerns

Falsified attendance and internship records at two Plano massage schools now put students’ tuition, training hours and licensing plans at risk. Texas regulators shut down Harvard Massage Institute Inc. and American Massage Academy Inc. after finding conduct they said compromised the state’s massage-therapy exam and licensure process.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issued an emergency order on May 22 against the two schools, which were listed as closed effective May 18 on the agency’s student resources page. Regulators said they had reasonable cause to believe the schools submitted inaccurate and inconsistent student hour records, used unlicensed individuals to provide instruction and allowed students to perform massage services without proper supervision.

The owner of both schools, Michael Chao Ma, also lost his Massage Therapist and Massage Therapist Instructor licenses. TDLR said immediate action was needed to protect public health and safety. The agency’s notice also tied the case to concerns about illicit massage businesses and suspected human trafficking activity, underscoring that the shutdown was more than a paperwork dispute.

For current students, the next step is documentation. TDLR says affected students can submit records for review, have hours removed from the closed school and continue their education at another TDLR-approved program. That means the shutdown could slow the path to a license, create administrative delays and leave some students sorting out how much of their training still counts. The impact may stretch well beyond Plano, since the agency says many students enrolled at the schools lived outside Texas, including in New York and California.

Texas requires a TDLR license to advertise or practice massage therapy, so the agency’s decision also affects graduates and licensed workers tied to the schools. Current massage therapists and instructors who attended a closed school will be asked to provide documentation at renewal time, giving the recordkeeping failures at Harvard Massage Institute and American Massage Academy a longer tail than the shutdown itself.

The case fits a broader enforcement push. TDLR has also issued emergency orders against Wellness Education Center in Plano, Austin Massage Academy in Austin, ELM Health Institute in Hurst and Greater DFW Intl Massage Academy LLC in Plano. State law expanded the agency’s emergency-order authority with House Bill 3579, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2023, giving regulators more power to close massage establishments when law enforcement or TDLR believes human trafficking may be involved.