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FBI accuses wealthy parents, including celebrities, in college-entrance bribery scheme

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  kavika  •  5 years ago  •  82 comments

FBI accuses wealthy parents, including celebrities, in college-entrance bribery scheme

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T





March 12 at 11:36 AM

The Justice Department on Tuesday charged more than 30 wealthy people — including two television stars — with being part of a long-running scheme to bribe and cheat to get their kids into big-name colleges and universities.

The alleged crimes included cheating on entrance exams, as well as bribing college officials to say certain students were coming to compete on athletic teams when those students were not in fact athletes.

The criminal complaint paints an ugly picture of high-powered individuals committing crimes to get their children into selective schools. Among those charged are actresses Felicity Huffman, best known for her role on the television show “Desperate Housewives,” and Lori Loughlin, who appeared on “Full House,” according to court documents.

Authorities said the crimes date back to 2011, and the defendants used “bribery and other forms of fraud to facilitate their children’s admission” to numerous college and universities,” including Georgetown, Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and UCLA, among others. One of the cooperating witnesses, according to the court documents, is a former head coach of Yale’s women’s soccer team, who pleaded guilty in the case nearly a year ago and has since been helping FBI agents gather evidence.

Some of the 32 defendants are accused of bribing college entrance exam administrators to facilitate cheating on tests — by having a smarter student take the test, providing students with answers to exams or correcting their answers after they had completed the exams, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Others allegedly bribed university athletic coaches and administrators to designate applicants as “purported athletic recruits — regardless of their athletic abilities, and in some cases, even though they did not play the sport they were purportedly recruited to play — thereby facilitating their admission to universities in place of more qualified applicants,” the complaint charges.


NSAK52BUVQI6TL23WUNX74ZC5E.jpg
Students walk on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in 2015. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 in bribes so their two daughters would be designated as recruits for the USC crew team — even though they were not part of the team. That helped the pair get into USC, according to the complaint.

Some of the money was directed to Donna Heinel, a USC athletics official, and others to the foundation.

In a statement, USC officials said the school is cooperating with the federal investigation and has launched its own review.

“We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university,” the statement says. “USC is conducting an internal investigation and will take employment actions as appropriate. USC is in the process of identifying any funds received by the university in connection with this alleged scheme. Additionally, the university is reviewing its admissions processes broadly to ensure that such actions do not occur going forward.”

Huffman is accused of paying $15,000 — disguised as a charitable donation — to the Key Worldwide Foundation so her oldest daughter could participate in the scam. A confidential informant told investigators that he advised Huffman he could arrange for a third party to correct her daughter’s answers on the SAT after she took it. She ended up scoring a 1420 — 400 points higher than she had gotten on a PSAT taken a year earlier, according to court documents.


Huffman also contemplated running a similar scam to help her younger daughter, but ultimately did not pursue it, the complaint alleges.

Other defendants include William McGlashan, chief executive and founder of a private equity firm, and Jane Buckingham, chief executive of a boutique marketing firm in Los Angeles.

Investigators allege the scheme was run largely through Key Worldwide Foundation, which ostensibly was a nonprofit but, according to the FBI, was really a conduit for bribing college employees to get rich kids into elite schools.

Last June, Buckingham agreed to make a “donation” to the foundation of $50,000, in exchange for someone taking a college entrance test on her son’s behalf the following month, authorities say.

The FBI secretly recorded Buckingham talking to one of the people arranging the test for her son. On the tape, according to the complaint, Buckingham talks about the complicated logistics of cheating on the test and said, “I know this is craziness, I know it is. And then I need you to get him into USC, and then I need you to cure cancer and [make peace] in the Middle East.”

NO POLITICS, STICK WITH THE ARTICLE PLEASE


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Kavika
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Kavika     5 years ago

Watch the video...This is really a huge deal, the amount of bribes to date is $25 million...

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
1.1  pat wilson  replied to  Kavika @1    5 years ago

Sad but not surprising.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
1.1.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  pat wilson @1.1    5 years ago
Sad but not surprising.

Sadly your correct pat.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
1.2  Split Personality  replied to  Kavika @1    5 years ago

and it's already being touted elsewhere as an "us vs them"

partisan issue

"progressives=bad", only progressives cheat for their kids BS

I can't wait for the list of all involved, including the investigators & prosecutors to see how they vote politically.

because everyone knows

that is apparently what the axis of the earth is based on. 

/s

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.2.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Split Personality @1.2    5 years ago
and it's already being touted elsewhere as an "us vs them" partisan issue

and that's stupid. Greedy, immoral, unethical people are everywhere and it doesn't matter who they vote for

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
1.2.2  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Trout Giggles @1.2.1    5 years ago

Sadly this kind of crap crosses all political lines, Trout.

 
 
 
Dulay
Professor Expert
1.2.3  Dulay  replied to  Split Personality @1.2    5 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
KDMichigan
Junior Participates
1.2.4  KDMichigan  replied to  Dulay @1.2.3    5 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.2.5  Texan1211  replied to  KDMichigan @1.2.4    5 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
1.3  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Kavika @1    5 years ago

NO POLITICS....STICK TO THE STORY

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.4  devangelical  replied to  Kavika @1    5 years ago

I guess I figured this kind of bullshit was common knowledge, at least since the 70's. silly me

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.4.1  Ender  replied to  devangelical @1.4    5 years ago

What I thought too.

Want to get a kid into university? Make a substantial donation.

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
1.4.2  cjcold  replied to  devangelical @1.4    5 years ago

This has been going on since the beginning of colleges and universities.

 
 
 
cjfrommn
Professor Silent
2  cjfrommn    5 years ago

i see this type of stuff and think, wow, when is enough, enough for these type folks. I mean we are quick to label (society wise) the street criminals but the rich, ooh no!

So i look forward to seeing some guilty pleas end up equaling jail time based on the money associated with the criminal act of document cheating. But .....not holding my breath, because we all know they have money to off-set the true effect of being found guilty of criminal intent!

It does how ever make for a nice fun addition to the national news cycle!!

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  cjfrommn @2    5 years ago

According to the FBI some of the people will be charged with ''racketeering'' The mastermind has already plead guilty to a number of very serious crimes. 

Hopefully all involved will get what is coming to them.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.1.1  Split Personality  replied to  Kavika @2.1    5 years ago

Rick Singer, founded "The Key", basically a tutoring company that provided one on one counseling for high schoolers to improve their scores.

He left and applied his "genious" to making large corporate call centers work better. Rick joined The Money Store/First Union Bank, running the retail bank’s call center operations. He became the Executive Vice President of the nation’s largest publicly traded call center company, West Corporation, and soon thereafter, became the CEO of one of India’s largest call center companies before selling it to ICICI Bank.

Having made a small fortune there, he returned to day to day operations of The Key expanding to create an online school and personal life coaching.

it always amazes me when talented people become so successful

and A - it's not enough, so that B- they lie steal and cheat to make more $$ or prestige.

Nowhere does any article yet list the accused based on their political affiliations or donations.

I will venture that to Mr. Singer, a mark, is a mark, is a mark regardless of partisanship.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.2  Split Personality  replied to  cjfrommn @2    5 years ago

Agreed 1000%. Way back I had the misfortune to work somewhere which was very successful, but a front for auto title fraud and money laundering and I could not convince them to turn their energy 100% into the dealership to improve it's success.

Like talking to a wall.  Somehow it's more of thrill to cheat the system and "save" on taxes etc.

they all ended up in jail.  Ruined businesses and reputations like this fool, William Rick Singer will be.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3  Trout Giggles    5 years ago

Five hundred thousand would have put about a dozen kids thru a good state-run university.

Talk about foolishly spending money.....

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
3.1  It Is ME  replied to  Trout Giggles @3    5 years ago
Five hundred thousand would have put about a dozen kids thru a good state-run university.

Didn't the 500 grand come from the "Parent owned" money ?

Should they have been Taxed enough to pay for the other "Dozen" kids to go to "College", so they couldn't do what they did ?

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
4  Perrie Halpern R.A.    5 years ago

This just goes to show how money corrupts. And worse is that these universities knew and sometimes were complacent. That is totally disgusting. 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
4.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @4    5 years ago

Meanwhile, some well deserving young person is trying to get into another school because Lori Loughlin's lil' princesses were more important

 
 
 
lib50
Professor Silent
4.2  lib50  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @4    5 years ago

Unfortunately its the way of our world.  Money does buy privilege,  money buys 'justice' for those who can afford it.  This is another example of how the wealthy elite think they can do anything.  Time will tell what kind of justice they will get.  Likely the rich white kind.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4.2.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  lib50 @4.2    5 years ago

Sadly lib50 you might be right. The FBI is throwing the book at them though.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
4.3  It Is ME  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @4    5 years ago
This just goes to show how money corrupts.

Government funding for Universities that take money "From the tax paying people"......… should STOP ! jrSmiley_15_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4.3.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  It Is ME @4.3    5 years ago
Government funding for Universities that take money "From the tax paying people"......… should STOP !

I agree, but it won't happen. 

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
4.3.2  It Is ME  replied to  Kavika @4.3.1    5 years ago

A bunch of "Big Buck" universities get it !

Mostly all about "Sports" INSTEAD OF ACTUAL "EDUCATION" !

I'm sure you've heard that TRUMP has threatened to Withhold government funding to those universities that have this tendency to curtail certain persons "Free Speech" ?

TRUMP was called a nut for that !

"WE"..... MUST BE NUTS for thinking the same way on this matter !

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4.3.3  seeder  Kavika   replied to  It Is ME @4.3.2    5 years ago

It will be interesting when this is all said and done how many of those universities will be named.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
4.3.4  It Is ME  replied to  Kavika @4.3.3    5 years ago
It will be interesting when this is all said and done how many of those universities will be named.

Hopefully..… ALL !

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4.3.5  seeder  Kavika   replied to  It Is ME @4.3.2    5 years ago

Trump isn't part of this and neither is ''free speech''....This is about a damn bunch of crooks.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
4.3.6  It Is ME  replied to  Kavika @4.3.5    5 years ago
Trump isn't part of this and neither is ''free speech''....This is about a damn bunch of crooks.

It's a "Crime" to silence dissenting speech of "Personal paying Students", just like it's a crime to further ones enrollment standing at a university by a "Personal paying parent".....right ?

It's a "Crime" to suppress...as it is a "Crime" to allow. It's all the same !

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4.4  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @4    5 years ago

It difficult to believe that the universities didn't know..Coaches were taking bribes and listing the kids as athletes that never showed up for the sport.   

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
4.5  Vic Eldred  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @4    5 years ago

It does corrupt, but that corruption already existed in the Universities. Look at the way they have saddled the nations children with tuition debt, as the US began a policy of universally enabling higher education for entire generations:

"Students at public four-year institutions paid an average of $3,190 in tuition for the 1987-1988 school year, with prices adjusted to reflect 2017 dollars. Thirty years later, that average has risen to $9,970 for the 2017-2018 school year. That's a 213 percent increase. "

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
6  Larry Hampton    5 years ago

Lottsa kids work dang hard to get into a good school; this must be like a wrecking-ball to the gut for some of them. I hope they don't merely fine them and put them on community service, as they deserve to spend time in prison for their sleazy crimes. 

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.1  Split Personality  replied to  Larry Hampton @6    5 years ago
In 2000, Rick and three other educators created The University of Miami Online High School, which was the nation’s first fully-operating fully online high school. Rick and his team created a student population of over 18,000 students annually, each paying over $15,000 per year to attend. In 2007 Kaplan College Preparatory purchased the rights to The University of Miami Online. Soon thereafter, Rick and his team took a significant position in Laurel Springs Online High School and helped it grow exponentially both from an enrollment and a college acceptance perspective. In Rick’s core business, a new KEY vertical has recently been launched with Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer Financial, UBS and PIMCO to advantage THE KEY life coaching model for both private wealth management clients and employees.

Elsewhere on the website they brag about having 90,000 adult clients.

this may be just the tip of an iceberg.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
6.1.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Split Personality @6.1    5 years ago
this may be just the tip of an iceberg.

I'm sure that it is...I feel that the FBI and the IRS are going to have a field day with this case. 

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
7  seeder  Kavika     5 years ago
Lottsa kids work dang hard to get into a good school; this must be like a wrecking-ball to the gut for some of them. I hope they don't merely fine them and put them on community service, as they deserve to spend time in prison for their sleazy crimes. 

I'm sure with this revelation many of the kids are going to be really upset...Especially when they start naming all the schools involved.  

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
7.1  Split Personality  replied to  Kavika @7    5 years ago
yep, the plot aimed to fraudulently admit students to schools such as

Georgetown University, Stanford University, UCLA, the University of San Diego, the University of Southern California, University of Texas, Wake Forest, and Yale

and "others"

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
7.1.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Split Personality @7.1    5 years ago

Boston College being one of the others. 

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
7.1.2  Split Personality  replied to  Kavika @7.1.1    5 years ago

un effing believable

 
 
 
luther28
Sophomore Silent
10  luther28    5 years ago

Seems that we may be evolving into a Nation of grifters.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
10.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  luther28 @10    5 years ago
Seems that we may be evolving into a Nation of grifters.

I really feel sorry for the kids that busted their ass to get into these schools and didn't get in because of this scam...

 
 
 
luther28
Sophomore Silent
10.1.1  luther28  replied to  Kavika @10.1    5 years ago

Indeed.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
11  seeder  Kavika     5 years ago

A current NBA coach admits that he took $300,000 in bribes to get people into Penn when he was coaching there. (Penn)

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
11.1  Split Personality  replied to  Kavika @11    5 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
12  Tacos!    5 years ago

I really hope there is a lot of outrage over this. I have never lied on an application or a résumé. I don't cheat on tests. I present myself for who and what I am, not some fantasy. Millions of other people likewise try to get ahead with honesty and integrity every day. Then these entitled pieces of shit decide it's perfectly ok for them to go around more deserving people. These cheaters fuck over all of us.

And then these same people will turn around and hypocritically complain about fairness and privilege in our systems.

(Copying my own comment from the other locked seed.)

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
12.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Tacos! @12    5 years ago

I was watching the live press conference with the FBI and the IRS. I think that these people are in a world of shit...The guy that is the center of this (Singer) has pleaded guilty to a number of felonies...

Both the IRS and FBI said during the press conference that this case is far from over and they are still investigating...

Hopefully they'll get ever last one of these POS.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
12.2  Ender  replied to  Tacos! @12    5 years ago

I hope they go after all of them but sadly, as someone said above, the celebrities will probably just get a slap on the wrist.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
12.3  Split Personality  replied to  Tacos! @12    5 years ago

OK, I'll vote it up again ! jrSmiley_2_smiley_image.png

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
13  Raven Wing    5 years ago

I am not surprised in the least. Money talks, and there is always someone who is willing to listen. 

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
13.1  igknorantzrulz  replied to  Raven Wing @13    5 years ago

true,

but the last time i talked to money,

it told me to STFU.

Which, of course, i couldn't.

So now, money and i , just pay 

the consequential bill due, to neither

of us, wanting to break the other till broke.

Silence can be costly and not always a funny joke.

So i laughed all the way to the bank, but it was closed. 

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
13.1.1  Raven Wing  replied to  igknorantzrulz @13.1    5 years ago
Silence can be costly and not always a funny joke.

Very true. As it seems to be turning out in this case, there were a good many who were willing to listen to the money, and it does not look like it will have a funny ending for them. 

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
14  seeder  Kavika     5 years ago

William Rick Singer, admitted mastermind of college cheating scandal, wore wire to expose it

For some unknown reason I can't get the link to work.
 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
14.1  Split Personality  replied to  Kavika @14    5 years ago

it's probably repulsed by Singer...

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
15  JohnRussell    5 years ago

I really didnt follow this story today but I think I get the gist of it. Two thoughts.

1. I predict that the celebrities involved will say they are the real victims.

2. I thought the wealthy were all into "merit" as a way of achieving things. That is what they seem to keep telling us anyway.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
16  seeder  Kavika     5 years ago
1. I predict that the celebrities involved will say they are the real victims.

They probably will, but that isn't going to go over well with the FBI and IRS since them have all of them on tape.

2. I thought the wealthy were all into "merit" as a way of achieving things. That is what they seem to keep telling us anyway.

Their merit and our merit must be very different.

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
18  charger 383    5 years ago

I don't think this is a new thing 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
19  Buzz of the Orient    5 years ago

I don't know how much of that could happen in Canadian universities, but then there are wealthy people in Canada as well who have kids they want to send to the best schools, so who knows.  What has always amused me about American universities is the admitting of students who can excel in sports even if they don't know how to write their own name.  Although it could be considered off topic I would love to know what the universities have to do in order to attract the multimillions of dollars donated by Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich nations - please don't meddle with my sensibility to say there is no quid pro quo for that benefit.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
19.1  seeder  Kavika   replied to  Buzz of the Orient @19    5 years ago

I suppose that this could happen in Canada as well. As for sclorships for sports. That is a age old ritual. Football is big business and brings in millions but it also costs millions..The pay for top flights coaches is mind boggling. 

As for SA. I would guess that it's to cover their human rights abuses and to fund Islamic studies at the universities that they give to. 

The really rotten part of this scam is the number of deserving kids that were not admitted to these universities because the wealthy parents needed to ''help'' their kids even when they did not deserve it.  

 
 

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