A former USC coach pleads guilty: NPR

A former football coach at the University of Southern California, who created fake sports profiles for sons and daughters of wealthy parents, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a racketeering conspiracy charge.

Laura Janke had previously denied taking bribes for writing fake sports biographies, but she is now the fourth corrupt coach to plead guilty in the university admissions scandal, brainstormed William "Rick" Singer .

At a federal court appearance in Boston, the 36-year-old woman quietly admitted that she had accepted at least $ 130,000 in illegal payments. According to prosecutors, the money would have been conveyed by a fake charity run by Singer to a football camp run by Janke and Ali Khosroshahin, the head coach of USC Women's Football.

Under a plea agreement signed last month by Janke, she cooperates with prosecutors who claim to be able to testify against other people, including actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli. .

The former female football assistant has been behind many sports profiles, including one that allowed Olivia Jade Giannulli, the daughter of Laughlin and Giannulli, to be accepted into this prestigious school. as a rookie although she was never rowing. Janke said that she had done the same later for Loughlin's other daughter, Isabella Rose.

Loughlin and her husband deny paying $ 500,000 to recruit their daughters to the USC crew. They maintained their innocence and decided to defend themselves.

Janke's influence has spread beyond the red brick campus of USC, according to prosecutors. She concocted profiles for students who were later accepted at the University of California at Los Angeles; Stanford University; and Georgetown University.

Dozens of other prominent parents as well as test supervisors and academic consultants have been involved in the scandal.

Monday, Desperate housewives Star Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to crying conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud in respect of honest services.

Huffman admitted to having paid $ 15,000 to someone to improve his daughter's SAT scores by examining and correcting the wrong test answers.

"[Huffman] shouted, explaining to the judge that his daughter knew nothing of the scam to inflate her results, and that her daughter's actions to spend more time on the tests were legitimate, "said Tovia Smith of NPR.

Huffman now faces four months in prison. The person who made the corrections also pleaded guilty. But the supervisor of the examination that allegedly allowed the fraud, pleaded not guilty.

Janke faces 27 to 33 months in prison. In exchange for its cooperation, prosecutors recommend a sentence below the range.