April 06,2019

Thomas Jan

On March 12 the US Justice Department charged 50 people, including Hollywood actresses, business leaders and elite college coaches, in connection with a major college admission scandal. Prosecutors have cast William “Rick” Singer, the corrupt college consultant, as the mastermind of the bribery scheme who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, racketeering, and obstruction of justice to help their children get into top colleges. He has cooperated with FBI’s investigation for gathering evidence against his wealthy clientele since 2018.

On April 3, Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli were among the 32 parents who appeared in Boston’s Moakley Courthouse and were charged in a complaint with conspiracy to commit college entry fraud for their children. The amount of payments that these wealthy parents are accused of making to Singer varies from $15,000 to $1.2 million.

Prosecutors said Singer allegedly arranged for accomplices to proctor test scores and bribe athletic coaches in exchange for a “donation” from these wealthy parents to his charity. Singer bribed test proctors and hired Mark Riddell, who was director of test preparation at a well-known Florida sports academy, to take tests for prospective students. Furthermore, Singer persuaded a Georgetown tennis coach, a USC assistant athletic director, and a Yale soccer coach to fabricate athletic profiles for clients’ children so they could be designated as recruits even if they did not participate in the sports at all. Prosecutors said all three coaches fabricated the profiles in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes from Singer.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the amount of prison time these wealthy parents face if convicted depends on how much money they bribed. Prosecutors have been negotiating with some parents about pleading guilty and seeking jail time for them ranging from six months to several years.