U.S. Accuses Actresses, Others Of Fraud In Massive College Admissions Scandal – KUT

Federal officials have charged Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin and dozens of others of mail fraud, in what the Justice Department says was a scheme to cheat college admissions standards by fabricating academic and athletic credentials and paying bribes to help their children attend prestigious universities.

“We’re talking about deception and fraud — fake test scores, fake credentials, fake photographs, bribed college officials,” said Andrew Lelling, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

Lelling says 33 parents “paid enormous sums” to ensure their children got into schools such as Yale, sending money to a man named William Singer for faking records and obtaining false scores on important tests such as the SAT and ACT.

“Singer’s clients paid him anywhere between $200,000 and $6.5 million for this service,” Lelling said.

The scheme operated from 2011 through Feb. 2019, he said, adding that in most cases, parents paid Singer between $250,000 and $450,000 per student.

“These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege,” Lelling said. “They include, for example, CEOs of private and public companies, successful securities and real estate investors, two well-known actresses, a famous fashion designer, and the co-chairman of a global law firm.”

The parents who are being charged, Lelling said, were already able to give their children “every legitimate advantage,” but he added, they “instead chose to corrupt and illegally manipulate the system for their benefit.”

Other defendants include university athletic coaches and college exam administrators.

Lelling cited one case in which the Yale women’s soccer coach took hundreds of thousands of dollars to put a student on the team, despite knowing the student did not play the sport.

The charges are part of a complex case that has been kept under seal. The details were revealed on Tuesday, as Singer pleaded guilty to a number of federal crimes, Lelling said.

Singer operated the Key Worldwide Foundation, a non-profit that was founded in 2014 and which promises to “unlock the door to academic, social, personal and career success.”

On its website, the group says it “has touched the lives of hundreds of students that would never have been exposed to what higher education could do for them.”

Key Worldwide described many of those students as having “only known life on the streets, surrounded by the gang violence of the inner-city.”

The organization says it has worked with a number of groups, from Los Angeles-based Ladylike to the Houston Hoops Youth Basketball Program.

In addition to Singer, court documents name the following defendants, who are charged with mail fraud:

Gregory Abbott

Marcia Abbott

Gamal Abdelaziz

Diane Blake

Todd Blake

Jane Buckingham

Gordon Caplan

I-Hsin Chen

Amy Colburn

Gregory Colburn

Robert Flaxman

Mossimo Giannulli

Elizabeth Henriquez

Manuel Henriquez

Douglas Hodge

Felicity Huffman

Agustin Huneeus, Jr.

Bruce Isackson

Davina Isackson

Michelle Janavs

Elisabeth Kimmel

Marjorie Klapper

Lori Loughlin

Toby MacFarlane

William McGlashan, Jr.

Marci Palatella

Peter Jan Sartorio

Stephen Semprevivo

Devin Sloane

John Wilson

Homayoun Zadeh

Robert Zangrillo

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