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William (Rick) Singer, the mastermind behind a US college admissions fraud scandal that ensnared celebrities, high-profile businessmen and other parents who used their wealth and privilege to buy their children into top-tier schools, has been sentenced to three and a half years. prison on Wednesday.
The sentence for Singer, 62, is the longest sentence handed down in a sprawling scandal that has embarrassed some of the country’s most prestigious universities and cast a spotlight on a secret confession system that has come to be seen as rigged for the wealthy.
“This defendant is responsible for the largest fraud ever committed in the higher education system of the United States,” assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Frank told the judge Wednesday.
For more than a decade as an admissions consultant for wealthy families, Singer paid entrance exam administrators or proctors to inflate students’ test scores and bribed coaches to point applicants to sports recruits they sometimes didn’t play to increase their chances of getting in. enter school.
Those sent to prison for participating in the scheme are included Full House actor Lori Loughlin, her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman.
David Sidoo, a Vancouver businessman and philanthropist who pleaded guilty in the US college admissions scandal, was also sentenced to three months in prison in 2020. He was found to have paid US$200,000 to have professional test writers use fake credentials to impersonate him. two sons to write the SAT.
Coaches from schools including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown University and the University of California, Los Angeles, admitted to accepting bribes.
Singer pleaded guilty, worked with the FBI
Singer pleaded guilty to many charges on the same day the massive case became public almost four years ago. Federal prosecutors in Boston have asked for six years behind bars.
Singer, 62, began secretly cooperating with investigators and cooperated with the FBI to record hundreds of phone calls and meetings before the arrest of dozens of parents and athletic trainers in March 2019. Authorities dubbed the case Operation Varsity Blues.
Singer took more than $25 million from clients, paid bribes totaling more than $7 million US, and used more than $15 million of client money for his own benefit, according to prosecutors.
Defense attorney Candice Fields said Singer took a personal risk by using the wire to record the meeting and “did whatever it took” to help the government in its investigation. Fields has asked for three years of probation, or if the judge deems prison time necessary, six months behind bars.
The singer apologized to his family, the school he shamed in the public eye and more. He also pledged to work every day of his life to make a positive impact in people’s lives.
“My moral compass was broken by the lessons my father taught me about competition,” he said. “I believe that embellishing or even lying to win is acceptable as long as there is victory. I should know better.”
Before Singer, the toughest sentence of anyone connected to the case was former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, who served two and a half years in prison for taking more than $3 million in bribes.
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