33 parents charged in US college admissions scheme

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - Federal prosecutors unveiled charges Tuesday that shed light on a nationwide college admissions scheme where wealthy parents used bribes to get their kids into elite schools.

At the center of it all was William Singer, who owned The Key, a for-profit college counseling and preparation business.

Singer also created a charitable organization called the Key Worldwide Foundation which acted as a front for the peddling of bribes.

"Between roughly 2011 and 2018, wealthy parents paid Singer about $25 million in total to guarantee their children’s admission into elite schools including Yale, Georgetown, Stanford," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a press conference in Boston.

Others charged by authorities included non-college coaches, 33 parents and two standardized exam administrators.

According to the Department of Justice, the conspiracy involved bribing exam administrators to allow a test taker to secretly take college entrance exams in place of students, or to correct the students’ answers after the exam was taken.

University athletic coaches and administrators were also bribed to facilitate a student’s entrance to elite universities under the guise of being recruited as athletes.

All of the money used to bribe individuals was hidden behind Singer’s charitable organization.

"This enabled the parents to not only mask the true nature of the payments but to also take the tax write-off at the end of the year," Lelling added.

Among the parents involved in the scheme were CEOs, investors and actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

Several universities responded to the allegations.

"Based on the Department of Justice investigation to date, we have no evidence that the alleged conduct involves anyone else at Stanford or is associated with any other team," Stanford University said in a statement. “However, we will be undertaking an internal review to confirm that."

The University of Southern California said it would conduct its own investigation into identifying any funds received in connection with the alleged scheme.