Hollywood actors, CEOs accused of pouring bribes, simulating photos to deceive admissions to the American university

BOSTON (Reuters) – Nearly 50 people, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, were indicted on Tuesday for a $ 25 million scam to help wealthy Americans bring their children to prestigious universities like Yale and Stanford.

The largest fraud scheme for college admissions ever discovered in the United States was designed in a small college-based college-based company based in Newport Beach, California, prosecutors said. He relied on bribes to coaches, fictitious candidates, and even falsified photos that portrayed non-athletic candidates as elite competitors for admission to the offspring of wealthy parents.

"These parents constitute a catalog of wealth and privilege," said Andrew Lelling, the American attorney in Boston, at a press conference. "For every student admitted for fraud, an honest and truly talented student was rejected."

William "Rick" Singer, 58, pleaded guilty on Tuesday for leading the scheme through his Edge College & Career Network, charged $ 100,000 to $ 2.5 million per child for services, which were masked as contributions to a scam organized by Singer.

"I was basically trying to buy or bribe the coaches for a place," Singer said in guilty plea, among other things: racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice. "And that happened very frequently."

Dressed in a black blazer, wearing glbades, her hair in a ponytail, Huffman, best known for her role in the television series "Desperate Housewives", was one of 20 accused appeared in a Los court. Angeles.

Many were slumped on chairs and a woman tried to hide her face. The husband of the actor Huffman, William H. Macy, known for his roles in films such as "Fargo" and the hit TV series "Shameless," sat at the front row of the court dressed in a gray coat.

Judge Alexander MacKinnon ordered the release of Huffman on bail of $ 250,000 before the March 29 hearing in Boston.

All the defendants who appeared in the US District Court in Los Angeles were at risk of being released on bail, Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the US Attorney's Office, said in an email.

Macy was not charged in this case, but the US Assistant Attorney, Adam Schleifer, told the court that he was a "subject of investigation". sitting in the yard dressed in a hoodie and cut short hair. He was released on bail of one million dollars. Loughlin, also known for her role in the ABC television series "Full House" and the recent Netflix sequel "Fuller House", was also charged.

Huffman, Giannulli, and Loughlin have not yet introduced any means.

LATEST COLLEGE SCANDAL

This case is the latest in a series of scandals that have upset the world of admissions to major colleges grappling with big problems. Boston prosecutors in recent years have also accused Chinese nationals of cheating on entry exams. The College Board, which administers the SAT tests, was shaken in 2016 by a security breach exposing hundreds of issues to be tested.

Some 300 law enforcement officers traveled across the country to make arrests in the Operation Varsity Blues operation.

To date, prosecutors have appointed 33 parents, 13 coaches and employees of Singer.

Other charges included Manuel Henriquez, Chief Executive Officer of Hercules Capital Inc, a lender in specialized finance; Gordon Caplan, co-chair of the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher; Bill McGlashan Jr., who heads a private equity arm of private equity firm TPG Capital; and Douglas Hodge, former CEO of Pimco Investment Management.

Representatives companies, Huffman and Loughlin, declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comments.

Suspected scammers of the scam and parents who paid there could all be liable to a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years if they were declared guilty.

During a telephone conversation with a wealthy relative, prosecutors said Singer summed up as follows: "We are helping the wealthiest families in the United States to educate their children."

No students were charged and the authorities said some of them were unaware of the scams.

Prosecutors said it was up to universities to decide what to do with admitted students for cheating.

Yale University and the University of Southern California (USC) reported cooperating with investigators.

"The Justice Department believes that Yale was a victim of a crime committed by his former women's football coach," Yale said in a statement.

Coach Rudolph Meredith resigned in November after 24 years at the helm of the women's football team. Meredith, accused of accepting a $ 400,000 bribe from Singer, should plead guilty, prosecutors said. His lawyer declined to comment.

John Vandemoer, former sailing coach of Stanford University who was working with Singer, pleaded guilty Tuesday to racketeering plot.

LEARNING DISABILITIES

Prosecutors stated that the program had been launched in 2011 and had also helped children enter the University of Texas, at Georgetown University, at the University of Wake Forest and at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Part of the program was to advise parents to tell test administrators that their children had learning difficulties that allowed them to spend more time on the exam.

Parents were then advised to choose one of two test centers that Singer says they have control over: one in Houston, Texas, and the other in West Hollywood, California.

Test administrators at these centers are accused of taking bribes of tens of thousands of dollars to allow Singer's clients to cheat, often by having the wrong answers corrected or another person undergoes the examination. Singer would agree with the parents beforehand to know what score they wanted the child to get.

In many cases, students did not know that their parents had taken steps to cheat, prosecutors said, although others knowingly participated. None of the children were charged on Tuesday.

Singer also helps parents present photos of athletes uploaded to the Internet to exaggerate their sporting credentials with pictures of their kids playing sports or even photoshopping photos.

Wake Forest said that volleyball head coach Bill Ferguson had been put on administrative leave after being among the coaches accused of accepting bribes.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators heard McGlashan from TPG Capital listening to Singer tell him to send pictures of his son playing a sport that he could manipulate numerically to create a fake sportsman. profile.

"The way the world works today is incredible," McGlashan told Singer, according to court documents.