F.B.I. uncovers college entrance exam scam
- Thread starter Nittany Security
- Start date
This makes no sense, from the release:
There's no indication that the schools were involved in any of the wrong-doing.
In all, 12 people, some of them college coaches, have been indicted in the scheme.
In all, 12 people, some of them college coaches, have been indicted in the scheme.
Yeah, weird. Apparently they feel a school is involved only if the administration itself is involved. If it's just a renegade coach who, by the way, is paid by the university then the university can claim ignorance and wash its figurative hands of the matter.
It appears that many of the people involved are celebrities and the wealthy bribing admissions officers to get their children into these schools when they otherwise wouldn’t have the academic profiles for admission. Sometimes, this would take the form of the child applicant being considered a “recruited athlete” for the school to push them into a different admissions category, even if the kid had no intentions of playing the sport in college.
I'm surprised there was the need for bribes. Most of these "sports" are laughable excuses to get wealthy kids into schools.
LdN
That's why you fire the coach when one of his former assistant coaches (who was given emeritus status by the administration) preportedly gets caught in the shower with a youth.
Differing reports... some have them arrested some have them indicted. Would be interesting if everyone involved was arrested.
LdN
Yeah, the way I'm reading this is that it isn't really an athletics scandal (i.e. they weren't forging test scores to get athletes eligible), they were saying kids were athletes who were not athletes in order to make it easier for them to get into the school.
It obviously didn’t involve Penn State.
We are not...ELITE.
!
We are not...ELITE.
!
According to TMZ:
Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin have been charged along with 48 others in a massive bribery scam involving some of the most elite colleges in the country.
Court records show the actresses and others allegedly paid hefty bribes -- as much as $6 MILLION -- to get their kids into various schools, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
The charges include conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. We've learned Felicity has been arrested and is presently in custody. We're told she will be released on a signature bond ... which essentially is a promise to appear in court.
The alleged scam was reportedly unearthed after authorities found a California businessman who ran an operation helping students get into the college of their choice. Authorities say parents would pay the man a predetermined amount which he would funnel to an SAT or ACT administrator or a college athletic coach.
The feds say if the money went to a college coach ... the coach would arrange a fake profile that listed the student as an athlete. If the money went to an exam administrator, the administrator would either hire a proctor to take the SAT/ACT or correct the student's answers.
As for Loughlin, she and her husband -- Mossimo Giannulli, the founder of Mossimo clothing -- allegedly paid $500,000 to have their 2 daughters designated as recruits for the crew team at USC ... despite the fact they did not actually participate in crew. Mossimo was also charged in the indictment.
As for Huffman, she and her husband, William H. Macy, allegedly made a charitable contribution of $15,000 to participate in a college entrance exam cheating scheme on behalf of their eldest daughter. The indictment says the daughter was given twice the amount of time to take the SAT as other students and the paid proctor agreed to secretly correct her answers afterwards.
The indictment says the girl received a score of 1420 on her SAT ... an improvement of approximately 400 points over her PSAT.
Macy was not indicted.
According to the docs, the FBI recorded phone calls in which Loughlin and Huffman talked about the scheme with a witness who was cooperating with authorities.
And the federal indictment out of Boston has a twist ... it says most of the kids admitted to the schools had no idea their parents allegedly greased the wheels to get them in.
We reached out to the reps for both Felicity and Lori ... so far no word back.
So there were arrests. That's pretty funny actually. $500k.
I mean in the end this is how almost half the kids get into Stanford and USC.
And crew... that's a typical sport for spoiled rich kids to get into college. Surprised they needed to hide anything further.
As a collegiate rower, it's a fairly simple sport to learn. I only started as a college freshman. Just height and endurance otherwise.
LdN
I don't get it. They pay half a million to get their kids to be considered as members of the crew team? Is admission easier for crew members? Don't colleges routinely soften entrance requirements in exchange for donations? Does this mean that those kids couldn't get into USC even if their parents gave the school $500K so they had to do this athletics ruse?
Many elite schools have different entrance requirements for athletes (or you get a "plus up" if you are a recruited athlete. So if you have the same scores and grades and Joe Blow, but he plays golf, he would get in over you.
Texas also involved. Now I understand their huge improvement in football! Also helps me understand how so many underachievers were able to get accepted to this board!!!
Might even explain these 5 star athletes that are so bad when they get to college! TIC
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Top 20 School in many reports. #22 in last US News and World Report
https://dailytrojan.com/2018/03/25/usc-acceptance-rate-drops-by-three-percentage-points/
The crew nonsense is somewhat tied up in Title 9 and filling quotas. It’s quite complicated but it does lead to a softer admission standard. Donations are very different. If a parent donates a large sum of money to a university that’s a very different but much more American and acceptable form of bribery. It presents an interesting moral question.
“ If a large donation allows several other students who wouldn’t normally be financially able to attend the school, or greatly inhances the quality of education for others, what damages accrue in allowing a less qualified child of the donor to matriculate “.
Quite frankly one must balance this against the overall financial gain to the university, and the immediate loss sustained by a single more qualified student who failed to gain admission. This is an interesting conundrum.
Statement from Texas:
“Federal authorities notified us this morning that we were victims of an organized criminal effort involving admissions. We have just become aware of charges against our Men’s Tennis Coach Michael Center and he will be placed on administrative leave until further notice while we gather information. We are cooperating fully with the investigation. Integrity in admissions is vital to the academic and ethical standards of our university.”
It still boggles my mind that such an obvious sort of statement and action wasn't made by the PSU BOT in 2011.
“Federal authorities notified us this morning that we were victims of an organized criminal effort involving admissions. We have just become aware of charges against our Men’s Tennis Coach Michael Center and he will be placed on administrative leave until further notice while we gather information. We are cooperating fully with the investigation. Integrity in admissions is vital to the academic and ethical standards of our university.”
It still boggles my mind that such an obvious sort of statement and action wasn't made by the PSU BOT in 2011.
"One student was allegedly posed as a USC lacrosse recruit despite the lack of a lacrosse team in the Trojans' athletic programs. Another prospective student was "made a long snapper," despite weighing just 145 pounds. Other students athletic histories were similarly falsely described for the purposes of admission."
Another crime by rich persons who think they can work the system. Hopefully, they get punished properly. Finally, thank you FBI.
College admissions are such an opaque and dishonest process I am sure this is only the veritable tip of the iceberg.
You notice how no SEC schools are involved, as it takes being able to spell your name right to get into an SEC school, and they may overlook that if you can tackle.
Also, hope we don't have a relationship with this guy:
https://www.imgacademy.com/director-college-entrance-exam-preparation/mark-riddell It looks like he was the one that either took SAT/ACT tests or changed answers for kids to get better scores.
I'm just shocked, SHOCKED, I TELL YOU, that the NCAA wasn't all over this! Sarcasm over.
Also, hope we don't have a relationship with this guy:
https://www.imgacademy.com/director-college-entrance-exam-preparation/mark-riddell It looks like he was the one that either took SAT/ACT tests or changed answers for kids to get better scores.
I'm just shocked, SHOCKED, I TELL YOU, that the NCAA wasn't all over this! Sarcasm over.
Its a great point. Transparency is needed.
I posted my neighbor's experience. His daughter graduated with a 3.4 from a great school. She got turned down from his alma mater for post grad. At a sporting event in the loge, he was with the Dean. The Dean told him his daughter got turned down because she was an in-state student. 90% of the accepted kids were not only out of state but out of country. For the school, it was about revenue. My neighbor told the dean that he'd have been happy to pay more if it would create a level playing field. The dean told him that this would necessitate transparency on how kid got accepted and create a bidding war. The dean is caught between doing the right thing for kids and just getting as much money as he/she can for the school. A complete mess.
I know this sounds kinda dumb so help me out...if I have 6 million laying around, my kid doesn't need to go to college!
Frankly, with the types of studies offered by schools, this type of thing damages no one, except a school's reputation takes a hit. Private schools are able to do what they wish as far as admissions. Publicly funded schools have different obligations. Hard to believe this type of thing is the subject of Criminal Prosecution.
update from TMZ:
9:15 AM PT -- The U.S. Attorneys Office broke down the alleged scheme during a news conference ... and named William Rick Singer as the ringleader. They say he created a fake non-profit, charitable foundation which served as front to launder the payments from parents.
The feds said most parents paid between $200k and $400k for Singer's help. Some payments apparently went as high as $6.5 million. All told, they say investigators uncovered about $25 million in bribes.
If these people deducted that "charitable donation" they are 100% screwed.
Also:
The feds said most parents paid between $200k and $400k for Singer's help. Some payments apparently went as high as $6.5 million. All told, they say investigators uncovered about $25 million in bribes.
Also:
The investigators went on to say that Singer had two main modes of fraud -- cooking the books for students' SAT/ACT scores with the help of co-conspirators, or by creating fake athletic profiles and paying off college coaches to recruit students under false pretenses ... some of whom had no experience with that particular sport.
Investigators also say that in many instances, Singer instructed the parents that they could write off their "donations" to his non-profit in their tax returns.
The investigators say most of the students who got admitted under this alleged ruse were not privy to the scam, but some were. The investigators made a point to say that all of this was allegedly done with corruption and greed in mind.
Regarding Felicity and Lori, the U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts claims Felicity opted for the SAT route with Singer, and that Lori went the way of athletics. He also says both actresses were in the process of surrendering to arrest without issue.
The main suspect in this case, Singer, will plead guilty to racketeering charges. Investigators say the case is ongoing as they continue to look for other potential targets.
Investigators also say that in many instances, Singer instructed the parents that they could write off their "donations" to his non-profit in their tax returns.
The investigators say most of the students who got admitted under this alleged ruse were not privy to the scam, but some were. The investigators made a point to say that all of this was allegedly done with corruption and greed in mind.
Regarding Felicity and Lori, the U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts claims Felicity opted for the SAT route with Singer, and that Lori went the way of athletics. He also says both actresses were in the process of surrendering to arrest without issue.
The main suspect in this case, Singer, will plead guilty to racketeering charges. Investigators say the case is ongoing as they continue to look for other potential targets.
Naughty Zoot!She's been very bad and deserves punishment.
Emmert will be issuing a statement when? He will really put the hammer down this time, lol
Already did. He announced Penn State will lose four 'ship players and have to play in the Mrs. Butterworth bowl in 2020.
Amen to that. If you're an academically gifted kid from a poor background, it looks like good old State U. is in your future. There's nothing wrong with that since it's supposed to be the purpose of state universities even if some (like PSU) have jacked up tuition beyond the reach of some poorer students.
I'm skeptical that the involved elite private universities were totally oblivious to what was happening. What better way to project an image of eliteness than to have some of the student body be members of rich and/or famous families?
