LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are among approximately 50 people indicted Tuesday in a widespread and sophisticated college admission bribery scheme in which parents are accused of paying off college coaches and standardized testing administrators millions of dollars in order to get their children into elite universities.
The racketeering conspiracy case includes 33 parents, as well nine coaches from universities that include USC, UCLA, Yale, Stanford and Georgetown. The entire operation was masterminded by William Singer of Newport Beach, authorities said.
Prosecutors said the coaches were bribed to indicate students were being considered as athletic recruits because universities, “typically apply different criteria when evaluating applications from students with demonstrated athletic abilities.”
“These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a Tuesday news conference in Boston. “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.”
Parents charged in the alleged scheme are accused of paying Singer a total of $25 million between 2011 and February 2019 for the arrangement. Singer used some of that money to bribe test administrators and college coaches. He would hire stand-ins to take SAT and ACT exams for the students, along with proctors to correct wrong answers. He would also create fake athletic profiles to help get students admitted into athletic programs.
Schools involved include; Wake Forest,USC,UCLA,Yale,Standford,Georgetown among others
