Federal prosecutors and the FBI have discovered a mass inquiry of multiple athletes and academic students in a bribery scheme to get students automatic admission into “elite” and top schools across the nation. Of those accused, there are over 4 dozen famous celebrities and CEO’s of multiple companies.
Actresses Felicity Huffman and former Full House Sitcom Star Lori Loughlin are among the celebrities accused. According to court documents, Loughlin and her husband agreed to pay $500,000 for their two daughters’ admission into USC by recruiting them as members of the USC Crew team despite actually participating.
As much as $6 million were paid to schools for admission. As part of the bribery deals, college entrance exams were cheated to gain admission for the recruited athletes and students.
Five coaches are among the accused and the schools that have been accused include Georgetown, USC, UCLA, Texas, Wake Forest, and Yale.
William Rick Singer, owner of a college counseling service called Key Worldwide Foundation, accepted bribes totaling $25 million from parents between 2011 and 2018 “to guarantee their children’s admission to elite schools”.
Former Yale women’s soccer coach Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith is accused of changing student profiles and listed them as prospective soccer players without playing a sport to get the students admission. Once the student was admitted, Meredith would send a check upwards to $400,000. Multiple relatives of the athlete would pay over $1 million in the spring and summer of last year.
Meredith told the father of another student and soccer player that he would recruit their child in exchange of $450,000 in an April 12th meeting last year.
Over 300 specials government agents across the nation arrested 38 people on Monday in the largest college cheating scandal in U.S. history. In most of the cases, multiple students have been aware of their parents, administrators, and coaches actions.