Tester pleads guilty to scandal of university admissions

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BOSTON, April 12 (Reuters) – A former Florida private school counselor is expected to plead guilty Friday to secretly placing college-based placement tests for children of wealthy parents, as part of the country's largest family planning scheme. Admissions fraud discovered in the history of the United States.

36-year-old Mark Riddell faces charges over his role in the scheme that would have allowed wealthy parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, to use cheating and bribes to help children find places at universities such as Yale, Georgetown and University of Southern California.

Court documents showed that Riddell had to plead guilty in a Boston federal court for conspiracy to commit postal fraud and conspiracy to launder money. At a press conference in March, how Riddell knew the answers to the review, US lawyer Andrew Lelling said that he was "just a really smart guy".

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Actress Felicity Huffman leaves the Federal Court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, after being charged with a bribery scandal at a national college. (AP Photos / Charles Krupa)

ADD IDENTIFICATION OF THE MAN AS MOORE HUFFMAN JR. – Actress Felicity Huffman arrives hand-in-hand with her brother Moore Huffman Jr., at the Federal Court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, to face charges in connection with a corruption scandal in national colleges. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

ADD IDENTIFICATION OF THE MAN AS MOORE HUFFMAN JR. – Actress Felicity Huffman arrives, holding the arm of her brother Moore Huffman, at the Federal Court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, to face charges in connection with a corruption scandal in universities. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

Actriz Felicity Huffman is a federal actor in Boston, Brazil April 3, 2019 for cars connected to the car accident to obtain information on prestigious universities. (AP Foto / Charles Krupa)

Actress Felicity Huffman appears in federal court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 to face charges in connection with a corruption scandal at an American college. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

Actress Felicity Huffman leaves the Federal Court in Boston with her brother, Moore Huffman Jr., left, on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, after being charged as part of a lawsuit. a corruption scandal in American universities. (AP Photos / Charles Krupa) (AP Photos / Steven Senne)

Actress Felicity Huffman appears in federal court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 to face charges in connection with a corruption scandal at an American college. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 3: Actress Felicity Huffman, in blue shirt in the center, leaves the US courthouse John Joseph Moakley in Boston on April 3, 2019. Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 13 parents who were scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Wednesday for the first time since they were charged last month in a cheating scandal of admissions to the university. They were part of about fifty people – including coaches, powerful financiers and entrepreneurs – involved in a shameless conspiracy in which wealthy parents would have planned to bribe sports coaches of big colleges for that they admit their children. Many parents would have paid for someone else to pass the SAT or ACT exams for their children or correct their answers, guaranteeing them high scores. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 3: Actress Felicity Huffman, in blue shirt on the right, leaves the John Joseph Moakley courthouse in Boston on April 3, 2019. Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 13 parents who were scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Wednesday for the first time since they were charged last month in a cheating scandal of admissions to the university. They were part of about fifty people – including coaches, powerful financiers and entrepreneurs – involved in a shameless conspiracy in which wealthy parents would have planned to bribe sports coaches of big colleges for that they admit their children. Many parents would have paid for someone else to pass the SAT or ACT exams for their children or correct their answers, guaranteeing them high scores. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 3: Actress Felicity Huffman leaves the US courthouse John Joseph Moakley in Boston on April 3, 2019. Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among the 13 parents who were to appear in federal court in Boston on Wednesday for the first time since they were accused last month in a cheating scandal of admissions to the university. They were part of about fifty people – including coaches, powerful financiers and entrepreneurs – involved in a shameless conspiracy in which wealthy parents would have planned to bribe sports coaches of big colleges for that they admit their children. Many parents would have paid for someone else to pass the SAT or ACT exams for their children or correct their answers, guaranteeing them high scores. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 03: Felicity Huffman leaves the US court John Joseph Moakley after appearing in Federal Court to answer charges stemming from the university admissions scandal on April 3, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Paul Marotta / Getty Images)

Actress Felicity Huffman enters court to appear before Judge Mr. Page Kelley, charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud and other charges in the university admissions scandal at the United States Courthouse John Joseph Moakley in Boston, Massachusetts, April 3, 2019. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (The photo credit should correspond to JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP / Getty Images)

Actress Felicity Huffman (C) leaves the courthouse after being accused of conspiring to commit mail fraud and other charges in the college admissions scandal at the US John Courthouse Joseph Moakley in Boston on April 3, 2019. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (The photo credit should correspond to JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP / Getty Images)

Riddell is one of 50 people who, according to prosecutors, have been involved in schemes to cheat entry exams and pay $ 25 million in bribes in eight years, before a wave of beating. arrests during the operation "Varsity Blues" last month.

The Advisor for Admissions to California Universities, William "Rick" Singer, pleaded guilty to having facilitated fraudulent fraud and coaching bribery in order to introduce parents' children as fake sportsmen.

Prosecutors said that under the program, Singer had made arrangements starting in 2012 for Riddell to secretly pass SAT and ACT college entrance exams in place of his clients' children or correct his answers.

Singer admitted to having advised his clients to ask their children more time to take the exams, especially by saying that they had learning disabilities, and then asking their children to take the exams in the exams. two test centers that he controlled.

He controlled these test centers, a Texas high school and a private college preparatory school in California, bribing test administrators who would then allow Riddell to monitor exams and cheat, prosecutors said.

Riddell, who worked at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., Received $ 10,000 for each student's test, prosecutors said.

In exchange, Singer's clients paid him $ 15,000 and $ 75,000 per test by donating to his charity, prosecutors said. Many children were unaware that their parents had made arrangements to cheat, prosecutors said.

Among the clients were Huffman, who paid for Riddell in 2017 to secretly fix his daughter's responses to the SAT, prosecutors said.

Huffman and 12 other parents agreed on Monday to plead guilty of conspiracy to commit postal fraud and mail fraud in respect of honest services. (Report by Nate Raymond in Boston, edited by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney)

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