The biggest college admissions scam?ever prosecuted in the US?is a harsh reminder that wealthy families can cheat their way to even greater privilege. And some say?this scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.
Here’s what we know so far:
Actress Lori Loughlin is expected to be released from custody later today after appearing in court in connection with the college cheating admission scandal.
Loughlin’s bond was set at $1 million at today’s hearing.
Loughlin, best known for her role as Aunt Becky on “Full House,” turned herself into authorities this morning after she was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for her role in the college admissions scam, according to a criminal complaint.
She will be allowed to travel for work within the US and British Columbia, but she will be required to surrender her passport in December.
Her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, appeared in federal court Tuesday on the same charges, according to the complaint.
The charges: Loughlin and her husband allegedly agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 to have their two daughters designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team.
But neither of Loughlin’s daughters ever competed in crew, a complaint states. Instead, the parents sent photos of each of their daughters on a rowing machine.
Loughlin is scheduled to appear in court on March 29 in Boston.
The?University of Texas at Austin said it has fired men’s tennis coach Michael Center after they learned about his charges in connection with the college admissions cheating scandal.
Center is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to a criminal complaint.
“We take the criminal allegations against Michael Center very seriously and, as of today, he has been terminated as a UT employee,” the university’s president Gregory L. Fenves said in a statement.
Fenves continued:
All University of Southern California applicants who are connected to the alleged admissions cheating scheme will be denied admission, university spokesperson Gary Polakovic said.
USC will conduct a case-by case review of students who are already enrolled at the university and might be connected to the scheme.
Polakovic said USC will “make informed, appropriate decisions once those reviews have been completed. Some of these individuals may have been minors at the time of their application process.”
Gordon Caplan, the co-chairman of the international law firm based in New York City Willkie Farr & Gallagher, has been placed on a leave of absence, the firm said in a statement.
Willkie, Farr & Gallagher LLP said Caplan will have no further firm management responsibilities in the wake of allegations against him with regards to the college admissions case.
The allegations: Authorities allege Caplan, 52, made a purported charitable donation of $75,000 to the Key Worldwide Foundation in exchange for Rick Singer – the architect of the scam – arranging for Mark Riddell to proctor his daughters ACT exam and correct answers after she had completed it.
Singer, in a call with Caplan, explained a particular need for his daughter “to be stupid” when a psychologist evaluated her for her learning disabilities in order to obtain necessary documentation to obtain extended time on the exam.
In a different call, Singer suggests that Caplan hire a member of his staff to take online classes for her in order to improve her grades. It’s not clear if this was done.
At another point, Caplan inquired with regards to changing the location of the test to the West Hollywood Test Center and asked whether anyone had “ever gotten in trouble with this?”
Caplan at various points asks if there have been any issues in the past.
Caplan and Singer discuss what score Caplan would like his daughter to get on the exam.
The court paperwork documents wire transfers Caplan made to a Boston bank account in the name of KWF which, unbeknownst to Caplan, Singer opened at the direction of law enforcement.
CNN has reached out to several people at Willkie Farr and Gordon himself and has not heard back.
According to authorities Caplan has made his initial appearance in District of Connecticut and was released on $500,000 bond.
One of his attorneys,?Peter Cane, declined to comment by phone Wednesday.
Actress Lori Loughlin has surrendered to federal authorities in Los Angeles, according to FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller.
Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to?designate their two daughters as recruits to the USC crew team despite their lack of participation in the sport, according to court documents.?
The actress will be booked and is expected to make her initial appearance in federal court this afternoon in Los Angeles.?
Giannulli appeared in federal court yesterday and was released on $1 million bail. His next court appearance is on March 29 in Boston.
Manuel Henriquez, CEO of Hercules Capital, has voluntarily stepped aside as chairman and chief executive officer, according to a company statement.?
Henriquez will continue as a member of the company’s board and an adviser to the company, the company said.
What was his role: Henriquez and his wife were charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud related after spending $450,000 to get his daughter into Georgetown and fix an ACT exam for his other daughter, according to court documents.?
Court documents indicate that the couple worked with Singer, who provided proctors to help testing for both of their daughters and adjust their test scores.?
The essay and application to Georgetown were falsified, indicating Henriquez’s daughter had a “Top 50 ranking” in the United States Tennis Associational Junior Girls Tennis and other inaccurate information. Records from the USTA do not show she played in any USTA tournaments in high school. The documents allege the Henriquez’s bribed Gordon Ernst, the head tennis coach at Georgetown, to designate their daughter as a recruit.
Their daughter was ultimately admitted to Georgetown.
Hercules describes itself as a finance company focused on providing senior secured loans to venture capital-backed companies in technology-related markets.
David M. Perry, a journalist and historian who is the senior academic adviser to the history department at the University of Minnesota, writes for CNN Opinion how the college cheating scandal is the tip of the iceberg.
University of Rhode Island has placed tennis coach Gordon Ernst on administrative leave, according to a statement on the university’s website.
Ernst is the former head coach of men and women’s tennis at Georgetown University and has been charged with racketeering conspiracy.
The University of Rhode Island statement says Ernst “has not been involved in the recruitment of any current players nor in the signing of any new recruits” and that his leave is due to the incidents that occurred while he was at Georgetown University.?
The University of Rhode Island is not named in the college admissions scandal.
The college admissions?scheme revealed Tuesday?is the largest of its kind ever prosecuted, federal prosecutors said, and features 50 defendants across six states, millions of dollars in illegally funneled funds and a handful of the country’s most selective universities.
The scheme used two methods — cheating on on standardized tests and bribe the people who decide which students get admitted — to get students into the top colleges.
Those charged include….
Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli appeared today in federal court in connection with the alleged college cheating admission scandal.
His bond was set at $1 million. Giannulli surrendered his passport and his travel is restricted to the US.
His wife, actress Lori Loughlin, was not in court with him.
Giannulli and Loughlin have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to a complaint.
Giannulli is scheduled to appear in Boston federal court on March 29.
The former head coach of Yale University’s women’s soccer team is accused of conspiring with William Rick Singer, the man behind the college cheating admission scheme, to accept bribes in exchange for designating Yale applicants as recruits for the women’s soccer team, according to a court filing.
Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith, the head coach of the Yale women’s soccer coach for about 23 years, agreed to work with Singer in 2015, according to the filing.
Meredith is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, the filing said.
In one case, Singer is accused of adjusting the resume and personal statement of a candidate to falsely describe the applicant as the co-captain of a prominent club soccer team in southern California, despite the fact that the applicant did not play competitive soccer, the filing said. Singer allegedly sent Meredith a check for $400,000 in January 2018 after the applicant was admitted to Yale, according to the filing.
Relatives of the applicant allegedly paid Singer approximately $1.2 million in multiple installments, including approximately $900,000 that was paid to one of Singer’s charitable accounts, according to the filing.
If convicted, Meredith will forfeit over $865,000, more than $308,000 of which was already given to the FBI in a cashier’s check in May 2018, the filing said.
He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on March 28.
Actress Felicity Huffman appeared today in a federal court in Los Angeles to face charges in connection with an alleged college admissions scheme.
The judge set Huffman’s bond at $250,000.
The Academy Award nominee is charged with felony conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to a complaint. ?
Huffman provided short responses when asked to confirm her name and if she understood the charges against her.
Prosecutors requested a high bond for Huffman. They listed numerous recorded conversations with William Rick Singer, the man behind the alleged scheme.
Prosecutors estimated that Huffman has $20 million in real estate assets and another $4 million in other assets.
Huffman surrendered her passport, and her travel was restricted to the US.
Her husband, actor William H. Macy, was in court and jotted notes during the hearing.
Huffman is scheduled to appear in Boston federal court on March 29.
Yale President Peter Salovey said the university is cooperating with government officials and “may take further actions” as the investigation into the alleged the college admissions scheme unfolds.
In a letter to the school community, Salovey said he was “profoundly dismayed and disturbed” by the allegations mentioned in today’s indictment. Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith, former head soccer coach at Yale, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, according to the complaint.
Read Salovey’s letter:
Dozens of parents, including famous actresses, college coaches and a winemaker?were charged in an alleged conspiracy?to get students into top colleges, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Here is a look at some of the 50 accused people:
The University of Southern California said it has fired its senior associate athletic director and water polo coach following today’s charges in the college admissions scheme.
Donna Heinel, USC’s senior associate athletic director, and water polo coach Jovan Vavic were charged in connection with the cheating scandal.
In a statement, USC said it is also conducting an internal investigation.
Read USC’s full statement:
Former Stanford University head sailing coach John Vandemoer pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in Boston federal court today related to?an alleged conspiracy to get students into top colleges.?
Vandemoer said in court that he didn’t pocket money that he was given. Instead, he said he used the money to buy new materials for the Stanford sailing team.
The judge recommended half of the sentencing guidelines and a sentencing hearing has been set for June.?
Vandemoer was released on his own recognizance and didn’t make any remarks to reporters when he left court.
Stanford announced earlier today that they fired Vandemoer.
The College Board — the non-profit group that administers the SAT — just sent out a statement on the college admissions charges.
“Today’s arrests resulting from an investigation conducted by the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts send a clear message that those who facilitate cheating on the SAT — regardless of their income or status — will be held accountable,” Jerome White, the board’s director of media relations and external communications, said in the statement emailed to CNN.
It added:
William Rick Singer’s attorney Donald H. Heller told reporters his client is “very remorseful” about the scheme and plans to cooperate with the government. ?
“He is excited to cooperate because he wanted to get this matter behind him,” Heller said. “Information is very detailed and I’m sure there are more things coming out.”
Heller went on to say that Singer “feels relieved that this part is over.”
William Rick Singer appeared in court today after he agreed to plead guilty in a college admission scheme that he operated.
After Assistant US Attorney Eric Rosen outlined the charges against Singer, he admitted, “Everything Mr. Rosen said is true.”
He went on to say that he bribed coaches, an act he said occurred “very frequently.”
Singer’s charity account, which contains $5.2 million, was seized, according to prosecutors in court. His brother was expected to post his $500,000 bond.
Singer was later seen walking out of federal court.
His sentencing is scheduled for June 19.
William Rick Singer, the man who owned and operated Edge College and Career Network LLC (“The Key”) at the center of the collegiate scheme, has pleaded guilty to four charges:
Singer faces:
He is appearing before Judge Rya Zobel in a Massachusetts federal court.
Actress Lori Loughlin, best known for her role as Aunt Becky?on “Full House,” is on a flight to Los Angeles, where she is expected to surrender at the Central District Court later this afternoon, according to a law enforcement source.
Loughlin is facing a felony charge – conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud – for her alleged involvement in the college admissions scheme known as “Operation Varsity Blues.”
Cooperating witness number one referenced throughout the criminal complaint is William Rick Singer, according to a law enforcement source.
William “Rick” Singer – the man who owned and operated Edge College and Career Network LLC (“The Key”) at the center of the collegiate scheme – will appear in Federal court in Boston today where he is expected to plead guilty.
A bio that appears on his website states Singer and team have coached, counseled and mentored over 90,000 adults.
He also wrote a book?called “Getting In: Gaining Admission to your College of Choice.” In a description on Amazon, that book promises “easy to understand and simple to follow steps to improve the odds of getting in to the college of your choosing.”
One Amazon reviewer writes, “This book is a must – allow Rick Singer to wave his magic pixy dust all over your life. You will be changed for the better.”
US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling District of Massachusetts answered the following questions during the press conference earlier today.
What will happen to the students?
How many students were able to make it into these schools over the years?
What were the different routes taken by the parents?
What kind of sentences will they serve?
Did the schools know?
More universities have released statements about today’s arrests related to a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme. All three schools said they have a coach or former coach who has been named as a defendant in the case.
Georgetown University:
Yale?University:
Northeastern University
Stanford University
University of California, Los Angeles
Celebrities are beginning to share reactions to the Justice Department’s college admissions scam investigation.
Earlier today, prosecutors accused actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, as well as other parents, elite college coaches and college prep executives?of carrying out a national conspiracy to get students into prestigious colleges.
Some celebrities took to Twitter to express their anger about the scheme and others talked about how they got into college the old fashioned way.
Here’s what they said:
Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, actress Felicity Huffman and 11 others were arrested this morning in Los Angeles for their alleged involvement in?“Operation Varsity Blues,” according to FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller.
Huffman and Giannulli were arrested at their homes. The FBI served?a warrant for actress Lori Loughlin — who is married to Giannulli — but she was not home at the time.
What we’re watching: All 13 defendants will appear in federal court in downtown Los Angeles after 5 p.m. ET today.?
The NCAA has issued a statement following today’s charges that alleged some coaches at the universities accepted bribes in exchange for students being admitted through the athletic route.
?Here’s what the NCAA said:
We’re starting to see some of the colleges react to the news that members of their respective communities were involved in the massive admissions scam.
University of Texas spox J.B. Bird:
Wake Forest:
University of Southern California:
Officials with the FBI and the Department of Justice, as well as the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, just detailed how the massive college admissions cheating scam worked.
A man named Rick Singer is at the center of it all, prosecutors alleged: He set up a non-profit, and parents came to his organization for help getting their kids into college.
From there, there were two routes Singer and parents would take, officials said:
Joseph Bonavolonta, the FBI special agent in charge, said some parents paid millions of dollars to ensure that their children gained admission to prestigious universities.
Some parents sent as much as $200,000 to $6.5 million for “guaranteed admission,” he said.
The Justice Department has released a chart of those charged in the university entrance racketeering case, along with the specific crimes.
For most, the charges range from conspiracy to commit racketeering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Others, such as defendant William Singer, face racketeering conspiracy; money laundering conspiracy; conspiracy to defraud US and obstruction of justice.
Andrew Lelling, the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said the college admissions scam is a nationwide scheme, but there were several connections to the Boston area.
Academy-award nominee Felicity Huffman has been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud according to court paperwork filed yesterday in Massachusetts federal court.
This is a felony.
A law enforcement source confirms to CNN that Huffman is the actress and she has been arrested in Los Angeles.
Huffman, best known for her role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives,” is accused of paying $15,000 to an organization that then facilitated cheating for her daughter on the SATs, the indictment said. Huffman also discussed the scheme in a recorded phone call with a cooperating witness, the indictment said.
Actress Lori Loughlin is also facing the same felony charge — conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
A total of 50 people nationwide were arrested in the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, officials unveiled on Tuesday.
Those arrested include two SAT/ACT administrators, one exam proctor, nine coaches at elite schools, one college administrator and 33 parents according to Andrew Lelling, the US Attorney for Massachusetts.
Defendant William Singer was paid roughly $25 million dollars by parents to help their children get in to schools.
Singer helped pay individuals money to take the exams or help improve their scores after.