Bribery scandal for admissions to US universities
The U.S. college admission bribery scandal was a scandal involving wealthy Americans buying admission to U.S. college degrees for their children between 2011 and 2019.
After extensive investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), indictments were brought before a US federal court in mid-March 2019 against 50 suspects, including 33 parents and 13 sports coaches. The central figure in the scandal is William Singer, who is said to have accepted funds from parents for years and organized the children's admissions with the help of several accomplices. He pleaded guilty on several counts.
Investigations
The FBI is said to have first learned of the bribery network when the officers interrogated a financial investor who gave the investigators the tip during a fraud investigation. According to press reports, he acted as a decoy and negotiated with a soccer coach from Yale University to improve his daughter's chances of being accepted for a bribe of 450,000 US dollars. Confronted by the investigators with the meeting, the trainer pointed out the later main accused William Singer.
Since 2011, William Singer is said to have brokered approvals against payment for his clients under the guise of his consulting company. According to the indictment, he paid various persons in charge from the sports departments of the respective universities of choice in order to get the children of his customers approved as supposed sports talents. For example, he charged a mother $ 400,000 to get her son admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles . William Singer bribed the coach of the university soccer team with $ 100,000 so that the university would allow the son to be a promising soccer talent even though he didn't play soccer at all. In other cases, William Singer arranged according to court documents manipulations of aptitude tests SAT ( Scholastic Assessment Test ) of the children of his clients. This included deputies who took the test in their place, or helpers in the supervisory and evaluation staff who indicated correct answers or subsequently improved the result.
William Singer claimed to have helped so-called "lateral entrants" 761 times with university admissions. According to his information, the price of the mediated admissions was based on the respective university of choice. Prosecutors estimate about $ 25 million in bribes negotiated in court. He received a total of 7.7 million US dollars from two families alone. You have not yet been charged.
consequences
The future of the illegally admitted students who had already started their studies was initially uncertain.
The University of Southern California raised shortly after the news of the scandal half a dozen already granted again. Other students who might be connected to the scandal and who have already started their studies should first be denied the opportunity to enroll for courses until a decision has been made about their involvement.
On March 14, 2019, a complaint was filed in a federal court in California on behalf of several rejected university applicants against some of the universities concerned: They allegedly did not adequately secure their admission process against fraud and thus deprived applicants of a fair trial.
In the United States, media interest in the scandal is very high due to the involvement of several celebrities, notably actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman . Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, reportedly paid US $ 500,000 for their two daughters to join the rowing team at the University of Southern California, even though neither of them did the sport. Lori Loughlin then lost several roles in current television series and film series in March 2019.
Felicity Huffman was sentenced to a 14-day prison term in mid-September 2019, among other things, because the court wanted to convey that wealthy parents must not get away with trying to steal university places from better students.
In August 2020 Lori Loughlin and her husband were for fraud to two and five months imprisonment , a 400,000-dollar fine and 100 and 200 hours of community condemned.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Moriah Balingit, Nick Anderson, Susan Svrluga, Devlin Barrett: Rescinded admissions, a class-action suit: Fallout from college scandal spreads . In: The Washington Post , March 14, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Jamiles Lartey: Felicity Huffman among dozens charged over admissions fraud at top US schools . In: The Guardian , March 13, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Tom Winter, Minyvonne Burke: College cheating ringleader says he helped more than 750 families with admissions scheme . In: NBC News , March 13, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Matthew Ormseth, Joel Rubin: A $ 100,000 bribe got a teen UCLA soccer scholarship without even playing. In: Los Angeles Times , August 19, 2019, accessed September 15, 2019.
- ↑ Kate Taylor: Fallout From College Admissions Scandal: Arrests, Damage Control and a Scramble for Answers . In: The New York Times , March 13, 2019.
- ↑ Emily Yahr: As Hallmark fires Lori Loughlin, here's why her alleged role in the college bribery scandal hit a nerve. In: The Washington Post , March 14, 2019.
- ↑ Kate Taylor: Felicity Huffman Sentenced to 14 Days Behind Bars in College Admissions Scandal . In: The New York Times , September 13, 2019.
- ↑ Actress Lori Loughlin sentenced to two months in prison. In: Der Spiegel. August 21, 2020, accessed on August 21, 2020 .