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FBI
Special
Agent in
Charge
Boston
Division
Joseph
Bonavolonta,
left,
and U.S.
Attorney
for
District
of
Massachusetts
Andrew
Lelling,
right,
face
reporters
as they
announce
indictments
in a
sweeping
college
admissions
bribery
scandal
during a
news
conference,
Tuesday,
March
12,
2019, in
Boston.
(AP
Photo/Steven
Senne)
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TV stars
and
coaches
charged
in
college
bribery
scheme
By
ALANNA
DURKIN
RICHER
and
COLLIN
BINKLEY
APNews.com
BOSTON -
Hollywood
actresses
Felicity
Huffman
and Lori
Loughlin
were
charged
along
with
nearly
50 other
people
Tuesday
in a
scheme
in which
wealthy
parents
bribed
college
coaches
and
insiders
at
testing
centers
to get
their
children
into
some of
the most
elite
schools
in the
country,
federal
prosecutors
said.
Authorities
called
it the
biggest
college
admissions
scam
ever
prosecuted
by the
U.S.
Justice
Department.
“These
parents
are a
catalog
of
wealth
and
privilege,”
U.S.
Attorney
Andrew
Lelling
said in
announcing
the $25
million
bribery
case
against
50
people
in all.
At
least
nine
athletic
coaches
and 33
parents
were
among
those
charged
in the
investigation,
dubbed
Operation
Varsity
Blues.
Dozens,
including
Huffman,
were
arrested
by
midday.
Prosecutors
said
parents
paid an
admissions
consultant
from
2011
through
last
month to
bribe
coaches
and
administrators
to label
their
children
as
recruited
athletes,
to alter
test
scores
and to
have
others
take
online
classes
to boost
their
children’s
chances
of
getting
into
schools.
Parents
spent
anywhere
from
$200,000
to $6.5
million
to
guarantee
their
children’s
admission,
officials
said.
“For
every
student
admitted
through
fraud,
an
honest
and
genuinely
talented
student
was
rejected,”
Lelling
said.
The
coaches
worked
at such
schools
as
Stanford,
Georgetown,
Wake
Forest,
the
University
of
Southern
California
and
University
of
California,
Los
Angeles.
A former
Yale
soccer
coach
pleaded
guilty
and
helped
build
the case
against
others.
Lelling
said the
investigation
is
continuing
and
authorities
believe
other
parents
were
involved.
The
schools
themselves
are not
targets
of the
investigation,
he said.
No
students
were
charged.
Authorities
said in
many
cases
the
teenagers
were not
aware of
the
fraud.
Authorities
said
coaches
in such
sports
as
soccer,
sailing,
tennis,
water
polo and
volleyball
accepted
bribes
to put
students
on lists
of
recruited
athletes,
regardless
of their
ability
or
experience.
That, in
turn,
boosted
the
students’
chances
of
admission.
Among
the
parents
charged
were
Gordon
Caplan
of
Greenwich,
Connecticut,
a
co-chairman
of an
international
law firm
based in
New
York;
Jane
Buckingham,
CEO of a
boutique
marketing
company
in Los
Angeles;
Gregory
Abbott
of New
York,
founder
and
chairman
of a
packaging
company;
and
Manuel
Henriquez,
CEO of a
finance
company
based in
Palo
Alto,
California.
The
bribes
allegedly
came
through
an
admissions
consulting
company
in
Newport
Beach,
California.
Authorities
said
parents
paid
William
Singer,
the
founder
of the
Edge
College
& Career
Network,
approximately
$25
million
to get
their
children
into
college.
Prosecutors
said
Singer
was
scheduled
to plead
guilty
to
charges
including
racketeering
conspiracy.
John
Vandemoer,
the
former
head
sailing
coach at
Stanford,
was also
expected
to plead
guilty
Tuesday.
Loughlin,
who was
charged
along
with her
husband,
fashion
designer
Mossimo
Giannulli,
appeared
in the
ABC
sitcom
“Full
House,”
while
Huffman
starred
in ABC’s
“Desperate
Housewives.”
Both
were
charged
with
fraud
and
conspiracy.
Court
documents
said
Huffman
paid
$15,000
that she
disguised
as a
charitable
donation
so that
her
daughter
could
take
part in
the
college
entrance-exam
cheating
scam.
Court
papers
said a
cooperating
witness
met with
Huffman
and her
husband,
actor
William
H. Macy,
at their
Los
Angeles
home and
explained
to them
that he
“controlled”
a
testing
center
and
could
have
somebody
secretly
change
her
daughter’s
answers.
The
person
told
investigators
that the
couple
agreed
to the
plan.
Macy
was not
charged;
authorities
did not
say why.
Messages
seeking
comment
from
Huffman’s
representative
were not
immediately
returned.
A
spokeswoman
for
Loughlin
had no
comment.
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