A senior US state department official has resigned amid reports she filled up her CV with false claims about her education and professional background.
Mina Chang was accused by US media of claiming a non-existent university degree and creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it.
Ms Chang, 35, was deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO).
In her resignation letter, she denied all the allegations.
Ms Chang also said she had been “unfairly maligned, unprotected by my superiors, and exposed to a media with an insatiable desire for gossip and scandal, genuine or otherwise”.
NBC News reported last week that Ms Chang had inflated her educational achievements and exaggerated the scope of her non-profit work.
It said that an NBC News investigation had found that Ms Chang:
- Created a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it
- Claimed a non-existent degree from the University of Hawaii
- Invented a role on a United Nations panel
- Claimed to have addressed both the Democratic and the Republican national conventions
Footage has emerged back from 2017, where Ms Chang is interviewed and the fake Time magazine cover is shown.
US media say the scandal has raised questions about the Trump administration’s vetting process.
Ms Chang took her post at the CSO in April, and US media report that before the row she was being considered for a more important government position managing a budget of more than $1bn (£772m).
