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© Charles Krupa / AP
Stephen Semprevivo, a California businessman, will travel to court on Thursday to determine his sentence in federal court in Boston.
A Los Angeles-based leader who paid $ 400,000 for his child to go to Georgetown University on the pretext that he was a tennis rookie was sentenced Thursday to four months in jail, the attorney of Massachusetts ad.
Stephen Semprevivo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and was the third parent to be convicted in this case who trapped more than 50 parents, college coaches and test administrators.
The four-month sentence is the same as the one imposed on Devin Sloane on Tuesday, another Los Angeles-based leader who paid $ 250,000 for his son to falsely join the University of Southern California as a gambler. water polo.
Actress Felicity Huffman, who spent $ 15,000 cheating on her child's SAT test, was sentenced this month to two weeks in prison.
Until now, Federal Judge Indira Talwani has inflicted sentences well below the prosecutor's recommendations in the scam to admissions to colleges. Prosecutors had requested 13 months in prison for Semprevivo, one year and one day for Sloane and one month for Huffman.
At the same time, Talwani ordered each of the wealthy parents to pay fines higher than those recommended by the prosecutor. Talwani fined Semprevivo $ 100,000, Sloane was fined $ 95,000 and Huffman fined $ 30,000.
Semprevivo, Sloane and Huffman are among 35 parents accused of fraud, corruption and lying to gain a benefit in the university admission system. Sixteen parents pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Semprevivo was responsible for the strategy and growth of Cydcor, a company that operates in the outsourced sales services sector, according to an older version of the company's website. He is no longer on the site.
A $ 400,000 bribe for the acceptance of Georgetown
According to the criminal complaint, Semprevivo allegedly conspired with the brain of strategist Rick Singer to bribe Gordon Ernst, the Georgetown tennis coach, by appointing his son as a recruited tennis player and facilitating his acceptance at the university. . But Semprevivo's son did not play tennis competitively.
In August 2015, Singer sent instructions to Semprevivo, his wife and their son regarding the sending of an email to Ernst, for example stating that his son was a tennis star.
Ernst pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering.
The candidacy of Semprevivo's son in Georgetown falsely stated that he had played tennis during the four years of high school and had been ranked in the singles and doubles tennis category, according to the complaint. However, the applications of the son in other schools do not mention the tennis and the records of the United States Tennis Association show no match record for him.
Even so, Semprevivo's son has been accepted to school and enrolled in the fall of 2016. The Semprevivo Family Trust has issued a check for $ 400,000 to the Singer, Key Worldwide Foundation Charity Mischief , for an amount of $ 400,000.
Between September 2015 and November 2016, Singer's Charity Miscarriage paid Ernst $ 950,000 for his help to bring Semprevivo's son, along with two other students, to Georgetown, prosecutors said in their statement. complaint.
After Singer was arrested by the federal authorities and agreed to work with investigators, he called Semprevivo in March 2019 to explain how Georgetown was conducting an internal investigation to determine why tennis recruits were not playing for the team. of tennis.
In a phone conversation with Singer, Semprevivo denied knowing that Singer had sent his son to college using Ernst, according to the complaint.
"You know, I do not have any details, but I think, I think you have to be responsible for what you did," Semprevivo told Singer.
In May, Georgetown decided to fire Semprevivo's son and another student involved in the scam. Semprevivo's son initially filed a lawsuit against the university to prevent his deportation, but then abandoned him.
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