College Admission Scam Brings Racketeering Charges for Athletic Fraud, Bribery
LOS ANGELES – When students were admitted to Ivy-League colleges under false pretenses, the inevitable happened. William Rick Singer (59) of Newport Beach, with an office in Sacramento, was arrested Tuesday for commandeering the scheme named “University Blues” while collecting millions from celebrities and the well-heeled.
One of many documents appeared (see above) pertains to the nation’s largest college admissions fraud scheme. Racketeering charges named athletic directors in top colleges. Defendant Donna Heinel of Long Beach was the senior associate athletic director at USC. (see #2 in above document.)
Top athletic coaches from University of Texas at Austin, Wake Forest, Georgetown and more were indicted. The New York Times reports that they had suggested applicants were top athletes.
Rick Singer had set up a business model that included tests being taken by a proctor, and the students were posed in photos of activities where they had never participated. He bribed college coaches.
Singer was paid handsomely for his services. His tony Newport Beach home worth millions was seized. He was released on a $500K bond.
200 agents and 50 people in six states have been charged (most of them from California), and the list is growing.
Actress Lori Loughlin (55) was met yesterday at the airport by armed authorities for her participation in the scheme. She had to leave a movie set in Canada to face the music. Her $55 million home is being held as collateral. She is out on $1 million bail for involving her two daughters.
Actress Felicity Huffman was also arrested. She paid $15K for a test proctor for her daughter’s SAT. Her bond was set at $250K. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, was not charged.
Two Stanford students have filed a lawsuit today, claiming that due to what Singer has caused at USC and Yale, the schooling there is disvalued. (Daily Mail) “The university is plagued by the scandal.”.
