First of all, duh! Selling bronze age superstitions as higher education is inherently fraudulent, so of course they’re gonna be lying about other stuff too.
Second, can AP please stop with the “alleged” bullshit? It’s not like they’re going to be sued (at least not successfully) by stating affirmatively that the practices by law ARE proven deceptive. That’s why they’re being fined.
The alleged is probably more a policy thing.
Like where does the organisation draw the line between “obviously guilty” and “obviously not guilty” - there has to be a bar set somewhere. And right now, it is the legal definition.
As I’ve heard it explained, “alleged” is when someone is accused but not (yet) declared guilty/liable in court.
Them being fined would indicate that there’s no longer any need for such ass-covering and continuing to do so could be construed as bias against the judgment of the court being correct.
It’s probably just sloppy journalism, though, but that’s bad enough in itself.