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SINGAPORE, May 4 – A Singaporean billionaire has paid $ 6.5 million (RMB 27 million) to get his daughter into the prestigious Stanford University, the latest revelation of the growing fraud scandal. admission to the university.
The scandal has been hugely topical in the United States since it broke up in mid-March: Hollywood actresses, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and many other prominent figures – but what's wrong? 39 how does it work and how did it work?
Cheating, bribes and fraud
The scandal involves two main forms of cheating to bring students from wealthy families to the Ivy League and other elite US colleges.
The first was cheating during the admission test, for example by passing someone else for the test and bribing the test administrators so that they closed their eyes. The second was to use false sports references to enter these colleges, which often accept elite athletes to strengthen their reputation.
The scandal provoked massive outrage across the United States. These high-level universities are seen as a stepping stone to a greater privilege and if a wealthy family manages to find a place through fraud, it could mean the gap of a hard-working and poor student.
In the case of the Singapore connection reported, no charges have yet been laid. But billionaire Zhao Tao would have poured 6.5 million US dollars – the largest amount ever reported in the scandal – to the leader of the elaborate scheme, William Singer, to bring his daughter Zhao Yusi to Stanford.
US prosecutors said Singer had tried to recruit Yusi into the Stanford sailing team, providing a false list of accomplishments in the sailing field and donating US $ 500,000 to the sailing program after his admission. New York Times reported. Singer has many relationships in these elite colleges.
In 2015, a Chinese magazine announced that Zhao, who runs the pharmaceutical company Shandong Buchang, had been invited to stay in Singapore by government officials in 1992 after his medical abilities and the healing of a patient had been hailed in a newspaper article.
Forbes reported that Zhao, who has a net worth of 1.8 billion US dollars, is a Singaporean citizen.
The immigration authority and checkpoints did not wish to verify this request for "reasons of confidentiality".
How did the diet work exactly?
The desperate parents of some of the richest families in the United States would pay Singer to secure a place for their children in elite colleges of renowned brands by using his various illegal techniques to trick the system.
In addition to asking someone to take the test or bribe the test administrators to guide them to the correct answers, the test scores of the students were also falsified, so was asking someone One to review and correct their answers after completing their tests.
Sports achievements have also been made:
- The faces of the students were photographed on the athletes' bodies and false achievements were added to their academic applications
- College coaches and administrators have accepted bribes to admit students who may not have even practiced the sport.
Once their children were accepted, parents made payments to Singer, Edge College & Career Network, known as Key. The bribes were disguised as donations to a non-profit foundation, the Key Worldwide Foundation, controlled by Singer's partners. Parents could then claim tax deductions.
Singer also ran a legitimate business providing college counseling, where he conducted counseling sessions for teens preparing to enter college.
Who was involved?
In addition to Singer, who pleaded guilty, 33 parents were also charged, including Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman, of the television series Desperate housewives'Glory and Lori Loughlin, known for his role in the sitcom Full house released in the United States in the late 1980s and mid-1990s.
The "Who's Who" in the world of finance and the American business world is also facing charges.
One of them is William E McGlashan, a renowned investor from Silicon Valley, whose investment company TPG has invested in Uber, Spotify and Airbnb. He also created a new venture capital fund, the Rise Fund, focused on ethical investing and well-being. He has since been on leave from TPG and Rise.
Another pair of Chinese parents paid Singer $ 1.2 million for their daughter Sherry Guo to enter Yale. No charges were laid in relation to this allegation.
Stanford's coach was sacked.
Several coaches from other universities, such as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles have also been indicted.
No students or universities were charged, US prosecutors said many students were unaware of what their parents were preparing.
Loughlin's daughter, Olivia Jade Giannulli, a social media influencer, was removed from a sponsorship deal with cosmetics company Sephora.
How did the scandal appear?
Boston prosecutors were working on another case of securities fraud when their suspect had given them information about a fraud scheme for college admissions. New York Times reported.
The suspect wanted to obtain clemency for his cooperation and told investigators that a university coach had accepted a bribe to secure sports recruitment spots for prospective students.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attacked a hotel room in Boston last April. A Yale football coach solicited a $ 450,000 bribe from a parent in exchange for a place reserved for his daughter.
The football coach investigations led the investigators to Singer, the project's main architect.
What is happening now?
Observers are waiting to see where the scandal will go and whether new charges will be laid.
CNN reported that a group of rejected parents and students from schools had filed federal lawsuits against colleges, saying they would not have lost their time and money to make a request if they knew the process was "skewed and fraudulent". Some parents accused of scams have already been the subject of a first hearing.
The "Operation Varsity Blues" scandal was described by the FBI as a code, which ironically meant a film from the 1990s about the pressures exerted by sports scholarships, the BBC reported. – TODAY & # 39; HUI
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