Acceptance of Kushner at Harvard under surveillance

WASHINGTON – The investigation into college corruption that resulted in Tuesday's charges against 50 people, including CEOs and Hollywood celebrities, has put a new emphasis on how President Donald Trump's son-in-law came to Harvard.

Jared Kushner, who is Trump's principal assistant, was screened in the 2006 book "The Price of Admission", written by Daniel Golden, editor of ProPublica.

The book examines how the country's wealthy buy their children in prestigious schools with tax deductions and other donations. One of these donations was made by Kushner's father, property developer Charles Kushner.

Golden wrote a story in 2016 after Trump conquered the presidency, about his book and more specifically about a $ 2.5 million donation that Charles Kushner had promised at Harvard in 1998. Shortly after, according to Golden, his son had been accepted to the prestigious school. .

More: Felicity Huffman released on bail after allegedly buying a child at the university as part of the vast admissions scandal

Gordon noted that at the time, Harvard accepted only one out of nine candidates and that those at Jared Kushner High School did not think his grades or test scores were good enough to go to school.

In response to the allegations, Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Kushner companies, told ProPublica that it was "wrong" that the gift was related to Jared Kushner's acceptance. She said her parents "are extremely generous and have donated more than $ 100 million to universities, hospitals and other charities."

"Jared Kushner was an excellent high school student and graduated with honors from Harvard."

While other people who had made significant donations to Harvard had been alumni, Gordon noted that Charles Kushner had not gone to school. Gordon said he looked into why Kushner would give millions to the school and found that his two sons were enrolled in this school.

Gordon reported that unlike other big gifts at school, Harvard did not send a press release announcing donations. He said he found the donations in Kushner's finances after subpoenas issued by federal authorities made them public.

In 2005, Charles Kushner was found guilty of tax evasion, illegal donations during election campaigns and falsification of witnesses.

But the story of Kushner's donation and the acceptance of his son was only one case. The book also looked at how others, including the sons of former Vice President Al Gore, had been admitted to schools.

These confessions became the focus of the conversation Tuesday after federal officials announced what they called the biggest corruption case in a college in the country ever prosecuted in court.

The investigation resulted in charges against 50 people including CEOs, prominent financiers, academic sports coaches and actresses such as Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

More: Fans of "Full House" express surprise at Lori Loughlin's accusation

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Federal prosecutors said that all this was part of a complex plot that involved cheating on SAT and ACT and that parents were giving coaches "huge sums" to get their kids into college and elite colleges by manufacturing their sporting credentials.

Huffman, best known for her role in "Desperate Housewives", is accused of paying $ 15,000 to an invented charity that then helped her daughter cheat with the SATs. Huffman also discussed the scheme during a recorded phone call with a cooperating witness, according to the investigation.

Loughlin, who starred in the "Full House" 1990s sitcom, also faces the same crime charges – conspiracy to commit postal fraud and honest service fraud. Prosecutors say Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, another accused, paid $ 500,000 in bribe in exchange for the designation of their two daughters as crew recruits at the University. from Southern California, while not participating in the sport.

As part of the national conspiracy, coaches agreed to claim that children of bribe-paying parents were highly recruited athletes who did not even participate in the sport, prosecutors said.

Other people, including other relatives, could be charged later as part of the ongoing investigation in several FBI states, which had been codenamed "Operation Varsity Blues" by the forces of order when it was launched 10 months ago.

Schools, including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford Universities, USC, UCLA, the University of Texas and Wake Forest University, are not the target of the in-depth investigation, prosecutors said. And no student has been charged. Authorities said that in many cases, teenagers were not aware of the fraud.

Other charges included three scammers, two ACT and SAT exam administrators, an exam supervisor and a college administrator. Gordon Caplan, of Greenwich, Connecticut, co-chair of an international law firm based in New York; Jane Buckingham, CEO of a boutique marketing company in Los Angeles; Gregory Abbott of New York, founder and president of a packaging company; and Manuel Henriquez, CEO of a financial company based in Palo Alto, California.

Contribute: Joey Garrison and Maria Puente, USA TODAY & # 39; HUI.

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