Photo: Scott Eisen/Getty
William “Rick” Singer, the man who orchestrated a massive nationalcollege admissions scam, has beensentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Singer ran a decade-long scheme to help high school students fake their way into elite colleges and universities like Yale, USC, and Georgetown. The scam unraveled thanks, in part, to the government’s Operation Varsity Blues, leading to charges against 50-plus co-conspirators, including celebrity parents likeFelicity HuffmanandLori Loughlin.
As part of his scheme, Singer raked in more than $25 million from his clients, while also paying bribes of more than $7 million, according to the memo.
Of the 50-plus parents, coaches, and more who participated in Singer’s fraud, more than a third of them received three months or less in prison. Singer, however, wanted the judge to let him go with little to zero prison time.
Lori Loughlin.TheImageDirect.com
He learned his fate Wednesday at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, a little less than four years after federal authorities handed down an indictment in the case in March 2019.
Singer, 62, began his career as a high school basketball coach before pivoting to college counseling and opening two companies in 1992 and 2004. Through those businesses, he helped his clients' children cheat their way into Ivy League and other elite universities.
Loughlin, 55, ofFull Housefame, was among Singer’s high profile clients. Sheconfessedto one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, while her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and one count of honest services wire and mail fraud.
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The couple paid $500,000 to Singer and Key Worldwide Foundation to falsely designate their daughtersOlivia Jade Giannulli, 20, andIsabella Rose Giannulli, 21, as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team — although neither daughter ever participated in the sport.
Loughlinreceived a two-month federal prison sentence after both she and Giannulli agreed to a plea deal. She also had to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 150 hours of community service.
Felicity Huffman.Charles Krupa/AP/Shutterstock
Desperate Housewivesactress Felicity Huffman also did time for her participation in the scheme. Huffmanpleaded guiltyto paying the disgraced admissions consultant $15,000 to have a proctor change her daughter Sophia’s answers after taking the SAT.
Huffman served 11 days of her 14-day prison sentence. She was also sentenced to 250 hours of community service and was on supervised release for one year.
source: people.com
