William (Rick) Singer, the mastermind behind the US college admissions fraud scandal that ensnared celebrities, prominent businessmen and other parents who used their wealth and privilege to buy their children into top schools, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison prison Wednesday.
The sentence for Singer, 62, is the longest sentence handed down in the widening scandal that has rocked some of the nation’s most prestigious universities and put a spotlight on a secretive admissions system already believed to be rigged to benefit the wealthy.
“This defendant is responsible for the most massive fraud ever committed in the system of higher education in the United States,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Frank told the judge Wednesday.
For more than a decade as an admissions consultant to wealthy families, Singer paid admissions administrators or projectors to inflate students’ test scores and bribed coaches to mark applicants as recruits for sports they sometimes didn’t even play , to increase their chances of getting into school.
Those sent to prison for their part in the scheme include Full House actress Lori Laughlin, her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman.
David Sidhu, a Vancouver businessman and philanthropist who pleaded guilty in the US college admissions scandal, was also sentenced to three months in prison in 2020. He was found to have paid US$200,000 to get a professional writer to tests to use false credentials to impersonate his two sons to write the SAT.
Coaches from schools including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown University and UCLA have admitted to accepting bribes.
Singer pleaded guilty, worked with the FBI
Singer pleaded guilty to multiple charges on the same day the high-profile case became public nearly four years ago. Federal prosecutors in Boston had asked for six years behind bars.
Singer, 62, began secretly cooperating with investigators and worked with the FBI to record hundreds of phone calls and meetings before the arrest of dozens of parents and sports coaches in March 2019. Authorities dubbed the case Operation Varsity Blues.
Singer took more than $25 million from his clients, paid bribes totaling more than $7 million and used more than $15 million of his clients’ money for his own benefit, according to prosecutors.
Defense attorney Candace Fields said Singer took great personal risk by using a wire to record meetings and “did whatever was necessary” to help the government in its investigation. Fields has asked for three years of probation or, if the judge decides prison is necessary, six months behind bars.
The singer apologized to his family, the schools he shamed in the public eye, and others. He also promised to work every day of his life to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
“My moral compass was warped by the lessons my father taught me about competition,” he said. “I embraced his belief that embellishing or even lying to win is acceptable as long as there is a win. I should have known better.’
Before Singer, the most severe sentence of anyone involved in the case was given to former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, who received two and a half years in prison for taking more than $3 million in bribes.
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