Dozens accused in US college admissions scam

Federal authorities arrested dozens of privileged people on Tuesday for a $25 million scheme to help privileged wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and some CEOs, cheat their children’s way into elite universities, such as Yale and Stanford.

The largest college admissions fraud scheme ever unearthed in the US history was masterminded at a small college-preparation company based in Newport Beach, California, prosecutors said.

It relied on bribes to coaches, phoney test takers and even doctored photos misrepresenting non-athletic applicants as elite competitors to gain admissions for the offspring of rich parents.

“These parents are a catalogue of wealth and privilege,” Andrew Lelling, the US attorney in Boston, said at a news conference. “For every student admitted through fraud, an honest, a genuinely talented student was rejected.”

“These parents are a catalogue of wealth and privilege,” Andrew Lelling, the US attorney in Boston, said at a news conference. “For every student admitted through fraud, an honest and genuinely talented student was rejected.”

William “Rick” Singer, 58, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges related to running the scheme through his Edge College & Career Network, which charged from $100,000 to as much as $2.5 million per child for the services, which were masked as contributions to a scam charity Singer runs.

“I was essentially buying or bribing the coaches for a spot,” Singer said as he pleaded guilty to charges including racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice. “And that occurred very frequently.”

The case was the latest in a series of scandals that have rocked the high-stakes, high-stress world of admissions to top colleges. Prosecutors in Boston in recent years have also charged Chinese nationals with cheating on entrance exams, while the College Board, which administers the SAT tests, was rocked in 2016 by a security breach that exposed hundreds of questions planned for tests.

Some 300 law enforcement agents swept across the country to make arrests in what agents code-named “Operation Varsity Blues.”

Prosecutors have so far named 33 parents, 13 coaches, and associates of Singer’s business.

The alleged masterminds of scam and parents who paid into it could all face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

On a call with a wealthy parent, prosecutors said, Singer, summed up his business: “What we do is help the wealthiest families in the US get their kids into school.”

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

Prosecutors said it was up to the universities what to do with students admitted through cheating.

Yale University and the University of Southern California (USC) said that they were cooperating with investigators.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in 2011 and also helped children get into the University of Texas, Georgetown University, Wake Forest University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).