‘Varsity Blues’ mastermind faces college fraud verdict
boston – mastermind National college admissions bribery scandal Sentencing is set to be handed down Wednesday after authorities helped secure convictions for a number of wealthy parents involved in his scheme to rig the selection process at top schools.
Federal prosecutors seek six years in prison For Rick SingerFor more than a decade, he has helped wealthy parents enroll their often undeserving children into some of the best schools in the country with bogus test scores and athletic qualifications. I’ve been
The scandal has embarrassed elite colleges and universities across the country, shining a spotlight on a secretive admissions system already seen as rigged in favor of the rich, with some parents pushing their children to their own liking. It exposed the measures taken to get children enrolled in schools that do.
The 62-year-old Singer began working covertly with investigators, working with the FBI to record hundreds of phone calls and meetings before dozens of parents and sports coaches were arrested in March 2019. He was eventually convicted in what authorities called Operation Varsity Blues.
For nearly four years after the scandal exploded into headlines, the singer remained out of jail and mostly publicly silent. He was never called as a witness by the prosecutor in the case that went to trial, but he does get the chance to speak in court before the judge hands down his sentence at the Boston Federal Court.
In a letter to the judge, Singer blamed his actions on a “win-at-all-costs” attitude, which he attributed in part to repressed childhood trauma. His lawyers are seeking three years of probation and six months in prison if the judge deems it necessary.
Singer said, “By ignoring what was morally, ethically, and legally correct, and prioritizing winning what I thought was the ‘game’ of college admissions, I lost everything.
Singer pleaded guilty in 2019 — the same day the big case went public — on charges that included racketeering conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Dozens of others eventually pleaded guilty to the charges, and two parents were found guilty at trial.
Officials blow lid on scandal after executives investigating unrelated securities fraud scheme A Yale University soccer coach told investigators he offered to help his daughter get into school in exchange for cash. A Yale coach led authorities to Singer to unravel the sprawling plot with Singer’s cooperation.
For years, Singer paid admissions administrators and proctors to inflate student test scores, and bribed sports coaches to prevent applicants from even playing sports on occasion. He nominated them as recruits, trying to increase their chances of admission. According to prosecutors, Singer took more than $25 million of his money from his clients, paid bribes totaling more than $7 million, and used more than $15 million of his clients’ money for his own gain, according to prosecutors.
“He was the architect and mastermind of a criminal organization that, to an unprecedented degree in this country, destroyed the integrity of the college admissions process that already favored those with wealth and privilege,” prosecutors said in court. written in the document.
If the judge agrees with prosecutors, it would be the longest sentence ever handed down in the case. Gordon Ernst was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for obtaining bribes worth more than $3 million.
Others embroiled in scandal included the ‘Full House’ actor Lori Loughlin and fashion designer husband Mossimo GiannulliWhen Felicity Huffman in “Desperate Housewives”A federal appeals court in Boston is considering an appeal against the conviction. Two other parents found guilty at trial.
A parent who was not accused of working with Singer was acquitted of all counts stemming from the charge that he bribed Ernst to send his daughter to school. And a judge has ordered a new trial for former University of Southern California water polo player Jovan Vavic. A person convicted of taking a bribe.
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