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By Corky Siemaszko
The acknowledged brain of a cheat ploy at the $ 25-million college entrance exams that trapped Hollywood actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman notably published a book in 2014 that emphasized the need to create a "personal brand" to enter a large school.
Now, the personal brand of William Rick Singer includes a host of criminal charges that could send him to jail for up to 65 years. Singer admitted Tuesday that he had contributed to the destruction of his own criminal enterprise by becoming a "cooperating witness" to the FBI investigation and carrying a wire.
"I'm absolutely responsible for that," Singer, 58, told a federal judge in Boston, where he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him. "I've put everything in place. I put all the people in place and made the payments directly. "
"Did you know that it was illegal?" Asked Judge Rya Zobel.
"Yes," answered the singer.
Singer, who lives in Sacramento and Newport Beach, California, was arrested after the FBI investigation, Operation Varsity Blues, revealed a network of well-heeled parents who would have paid millions to Singer to increase their children's chances of entering elite colleges like Yale. , Georgetown and Stanford.
The author of "Entering: Obtaining Admission to the College of Your Choice" has been charged with racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, according to a criminal complaint.
"He has a lot of remorse for getting into this mess" and is collaborating with the investigators, Singer's lawyer Donald Heller said after the court appearance.
Heller said Singer had been working in the field of university preparation since 1994 and that he "volunteered to help a lot of people who were entering the university".
"What's sad is that he did not prepare Trump's children because he would probably have gotten a pardon," he said.
Singer founded The Edge College & Career Network, LLC, also known as "The Key," in 2007. He has integrated the Sacramento-based "For-Profit-Based Consulting and Preparation Company" into the University of California. 39, state of California in 2012, according to court documents. .
Singer also created a non-profit corporation in Newport Beach, Calif., Called Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF) as an alleged charity around 2012, according to newspapers.
The court documents indicate that both companies participated in the alleged scam.
Before it was dismantled, Singer had violated the law with legitimacy in terms of traffic, according to the data available.
But Singer has long been a major player in the "college readiness circuit," and much of what we know about him comes from the Sacramento Bee newspaper, which said he had embarked on his Current career several years after his dismissal male basketball coach at Encina High School in the California capital.
The district spokesman described the reason for the dismissal as a "personal matter". The Bee also said that "the parents have stated that Singer was abusive to the referees".
Then, in the early 1990s, Singer was the assistant coach of the men's basketball team at Sacramento State University.
Along the way, it seems that Singer has been involved in several other cases.
On The Key's website, it is written that ten years ago, Singer was "one of the country's top leaders in the call center industry".
Singer was also a "senior executive" at The Money Store and First Union Bank, the website said. Singer was also the "CEO of one of the largest call center companies in India before selling it to ICICI Bank."
There were no specific dates provided.
In 1994, Singer ran a company called Future Stars and made a living helping high school and high school students navigate the college application process.
"It's not that school counselors do not want to help," Singer told Bee. "It's just that they often do not have the time."
It is obvious that Singer has quickly made a name in this area.
"For a long time, he was the reference person in Sacramento," said a consultant who asked not to be identified.
It was not immediately clear when exactly Singer moved to Newport Beach, an oceanfront community south of Los Angeles, Orange County. But the KWF charity based in Newport Beach was created in 2012 and Singer was sentenced twice in 2014 for minor traffic violations in Newport Beach, according to records.
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