Stanford Students Bring Class Action Against University Admissions Scandal

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Students Erica Olsen and Kalea Woods allege partial negligence, unfair competition and consumer law violations, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court of the Northern District of California. The lawsuit seeks a variety of remedies, including compensatory and punitive damages, restitution and other remedies deemed appropriate by the court.

The lawsuit alleges that Olsen and Woods were wronged in that their degrees are not worth as much, as potential employers may wonder if they were admitted to school for their own merit "as opposed to parents willing to bribe school officials ".

The lawsuit refers to Stanford, the University of Southern California, UCLA, the University of San Diego, the University of Texas at Austin and the Wake Forest, Yale and Georgetown Universities as defendants. The schools were cited in the staggering national conspiracy unveiled Tuesday by federal prosecutors.

On Tuesday, William Rick Singer, the man at the center of the ploy, pleaded guilty to racketeering, conspiracy for money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of the justice in a federal court in Boston. Singer and his nonprofit organization, Key Worldwide Foundation, and his academic consulting firm, Key, are also defendants in the trial of the students.

The two students reported spending money applying to other schools cited in the college admissions scandal, and the lawyers claimed that they would not have applied for school fees. They had known about the so-called ploy.

Here's how the college admissions scam would have worked

"If (Olsen) had known that the Yale University system was skewed and manipulated fraudulently, she would not have spent the money needed to apply for school. Nor did she receive what she had paid for – a fair treatment process for admissions, "the lawsuit said.

Prosecutors said the universities were victims in the criminal case and schools made similar claims.

CNN reaches out to nominated universities to comment on the lawsuit.

In particular, court documents describe how Stanford coach John Vandemoer agreed to appoint a prospective student as a recruited sailor, thus facilitating the student's admission to Stanford, in exchange for 39, a bribe. According to the documents, Singer sent $ 110,000 to the Stanford Sailing Program for one student and $ 160,000 to the program for another student.

According to the documents, neither of the two students graduated from Stanford.

Vandemoer pleaded guilty on Tuesday for racketeering plot. Stanford said he cooperated with the Justice Department in this case and sacked his coach.

"Let's be clear: the conduct reported in this case is absolutely contrary to the values ​​of Stanford and the standards of this university for decades," said presidents Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Drell on Tuesday in a statement. "Today's news is shocking precisely because it runs counter to our institutional expectations of ethical conduct."

Kristina Sgueglia from CNN contributed to this report.

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