Here's how the college admissions scam would have worked

In total, 50 people were charged in this case. Among those arrested are two SAT / ACT directors, an exam supervisor, nine elite school coaches, a university administrator and 33 parents, according to Lelling.

Here's how the plan worked, according to prosecutors.

Cheating on ACTs and SATs

Of course, students who score better on standardized tests such as ACT and SAT are more likely to enter selective colleges.

However, Singer facilitated fraud in these exams for students whose wealthy parents paid for his services.

Singer pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday to four federal charges and admitted that the case against him was accurate.

How would Riddell have passed the tests without being noticed by the test administrators? Prosecutors said: Singer bribed them.

Igor Dvorskiy, who administered the SAT and ACT tests in Los Angeles, and Lisa "Niki" Williams, who administered the tests in a public high school in Houston, are both charged with accepting bribes to allow Riddell to pass the tests. Both are accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering, according to the indictment.

The parents who hired Singer as part of this scheme would have paid between $ 15,000 and $ 75,000 per test, the indictment said.

CNN contacted Riddell, Williams and Dvorskiy.

The case of Felicity Huffman would have described this type of scheme.

Huffman, an Oscar nominee, has been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest service fraud, according to court documents filed Monday in federal court in Massachusetts. She was arrested without incident at home, the FBI announced.

She is accused of paying $ 15,000 to Singer's bogus charity to facilitate her daughter's deception at SAT, the complaint says.

A witness told the authorities that he would have left Tampa to visit a West Hollywood test center to administer Huffman's daughter's examination. She received 1420 points on her test, 400 points more than a PSAT taken a year earlier without the same administrator, says the complaint.

Huffman discussed the alleged ploy in a registered appeal with Singer, according to the complaint.

Entrust coaches for spots

College coaches do not explicitly decide who will be accepted into their university. But they recommend that the admissions office retain some recruited athletes.

Being recruited into a Division I sport is a "very powerful influence factor" in the admissions process, said Sara Harberson, Admissions Advisor at Universities and former Dean of Admissions at Franklin & Marshall College. .

For this reason, Singer's second goal was to corrupt college coaches and track and field officials. In exchange, they would recommend to admissions officers that some students be accepted, even if they do not practice the sport and have false sports references.

"I was corrupting coaches for a place, and that happened very often, your honor," Singer told a federal court.

The case of Lori Loughlin, who played "Full House" with Aunt Becky, highlights this aspect of the alleged ploy.

Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, face charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and fraud related to honest services, prosecutors said.

The couple reportedly agreed to pay $ 500,000 in bribes in exchange for the designation of their two daughters as recruits in the crew team of the University of Southern California.

The girls were recruited as helmsmen, although they did not participate in competitions or crew, the complaint said. The parents sent the singer photos of each of their daughters on an ergometer, the rower, indicates the complaint.

Singer then bribed Donna Heinel, Senior Associate Director of Sports at USC, who brought the students to the USC as recruited athletes, according to the complaint.

"I wanted to thank you again for your excellent work with [our older daughter]she is very enthusiastic and Lori and I are very grateful for your efforts and the end result! ", reported Giannulli in an email to Singer in the complaint.

Giannulli was arrested without incident and the FBI served a warrant for arrest against Loughlin, but she was not at home at that time, said an FBI spokeswoman. Loughlin was on a flight to Los Angeles, where she is expected to go to the central district court later Tuesday afternoon, according to a police source.

CNN contacted Iconix Brand Group, owner of the fashion company Giannulli, Mossimo. CNN is also seeking input from actress representatives.

USC has declared that it has terminated its duties at Heinel following the charges.

"We understand that the government believes that the illegal activities were perpetrated by individuals who did their best to conceal their actions at the university," said the university. CNN contacted Heinel for a comment.

False charitable donations

As part of the program, Singer disguised his clients' bribe payments as charitable contributions to the Key Worldwide Foundation, or KWF, a non-profit organization created by Singer, prosecutors said.

But instead of going to charity, some of this money has been used to bribe coaches and athletics officials as part of this ploy, prosecutors said.

"The Singer Foundation was supposed to be a charitable organization, but was actually a face used by Singer to launder the money his parents were paying him," said the federal attorney in Boston.

Then a KWF employee would send letters to customers to thank them for their donations.

"Your generosity will allow us to move forward in our plans to provide educational and personal enrichment programs to disadvantaged youth," the letter to prosecutors said. The letters also falsely state that "no goods or services have been exchanged" for donations, prosecutors said.

The allegedly false nature of the charity is evident in a recorded appeal of October 25, 2018 between Singer and Giannulli included in the complaint.

Singer, acting under the direction of law enforcement officials, explained to Giannulli that the money they had sent was actually used to get girls to the USC for the crew, what Giannulli would have accepted. Singer went on to say that the IRS was checking out his charity and that they had to get on the same page with respect to what they would say to the investigators.

"So, I just want to make sure the stories are the same … and that your $ 400K has been donated to our foundation to help underserved kids," Singer said.

"Uh, perfect," said Giannulli.

In addition, according to federal prosecutors, many clients subsequently filed tax returns falsely stating that the payment to KWF was a charitable donation.

The Singer charity account, which contains $ 5.2 million, has been seized, according to prosecutors in court.