Felicity Huffman, star of "Desperate Housewives", among dozens of people accused of fraud at college entrance | news from the world



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Felicity Huffman, star of "Desperate Housewives", and Hollywood actress Lori Loughlin were among dozens of people on Tuesday charged with a multi-million dollar scam aimed at helping American elite children sneak past in the best universities.

include general managers, financiers, the president of a major law firm, a winemaker and a fashion designer, who allegedly cheated on admission tests and organized bribes to bring their children in prestigious schools, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California. Prosecutors said.

They paid more than $ 25 million over seven years to a fictional charity run by Californian William Singer, both to allow people to set SAT and ACT entry exams for their children and bribe university sports coaches to recruit their children. even when children were not qualified to play at this level.

The case has sparked outrage across the country, particularly among ransomers who insist on fierce competition for university places and, more broadly, on the privileged behaviors of Americans the most rich.

In total, 50 people were charged: 33 parents who paid for their children to enter high-end colleges. life; 13 university sports coaches and test organization operators; and Singer and three other people who exploited the fraudulent scheme.

Thirteen of the defendants, including Huffman, were arrested and should be charged Tuesday night in Los Angeles. Others have appeared in Boston, New York, Connecticut and elsewhere. Loughlin was not arrested because she was in Canada.

None of the universities or companies that organize the tests have been involved and none of the students involved have been charged.

"These parents constitute a catalog of wealth and privileges," said Andrew Lelling, the American attorney in Boston, Mbadachusetts, where the case was announced.

"Each year, Hundreds of thousands of talented students and workers are striving to obtain admission to elite schools, "he said. There can be no separate admission system for the rich in colleges, and I will add that there will also be no separate criminal justice system. "

– S & # 39; to attack the anxiety of parents –

The system was intended to take advantage of In the United States, parents often suffer from two years of anxiety because they impose on secondary school children the standardized tests necessary to enter into the United States. colleges and universities very competitive.

Even legally, wealth plays a role. Parents who can afford expensive test preparation and have their children take the test two or three times to improve their results.

And, in a second part of the program, the "side door" operation, Singer would create fake sports profiles for students and would manage the gains of college coaches in minor sports such as football, football, and sports. crew, water polo. and navigate so that the student is accepted on this basis.

Payments were made to Singer's charity in Newport Beach, California, Key Worldwide Foundation, and to non-profit organizations run by coaches, which allowed parents to deduct

Singer agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges and helped investigators obtain evidence against his clients and co-conspirators.

– Not "shamelessly" –

Huffman parents, 56, and her husband William Macy, the star of SHOWTIME's hit series "Shameless", paid $ 15,000 for their first daughter to pbad the test, but decided not to do the same thing with their second daughter.

Loughlin, the 54-year-old "Full House" star, and her stylist husband, Mossimo Giannulli, reportedly paid $ 500,000 for their two daughters to enter the University of Southern California as helmsmen for crews – a sport they had never participated before.

Gordon Caplan, co-chair of the New York law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, reportedly paid $ 75,000 for his daughter's test notes to be corrected.

And William McGlashan, one of the executives of major investment group TPG Capital, specializing in technology investments, reportedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for testing and investment at the company. University of Southern California as a student athlete.

When they see his candidacy, he will be considered an athlete, "said Singer during a telephone conversation recorded by the investigators.

" But once he arrives, he goes away, he does not go to the athlete. c orientation, it follows the usual orientation like all my other children … and everything is fine.

accept students in their teams.

Some tried to practice the sport and then resigned; some made injuries and never joined the teams, others said Lelling, "simply did not show up" to play.

First publication:
March 13, 2019 07:38 AM IST

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