\nOver the past week the country has learned of an extensive scheme to fraudulently\nadmit children of wealthy individuals to elite colleges and universities. Ironically, the investigation began with a\ntop provided by an individual facing securities fraud prosecution who claimed a\nsoccer coach solicited a bribe. The U.S.\nAttorney for Massachusetts and the Boston FBI Field office opened an\ninvestigation that thus far has uncovered a scheme that involved over 750 wealthy\nfamilies who paid various sums of money to William \u201cRick\u201d Singer, the ring\nleader and founder of a phony charity that funneled their money as bribes to\nhelp their children gain acceptance to the schools. Although the investigation continues, at this\npoint 50 individuals have been indicted including 33 parents and around a dozen\ncoaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe FBI generated a 200-page affidavit of the case including transcripts\nof interviews with Singer, conversations between Singer and parents, and\nevidence of payments. The indicted\nparents allegedly paid Singer a total of 25 million dollars. Singer, who has been cooperating with\ninvestigators, used the money to fraudulently enhance the students\u2019\napplications. In some cases, he arranged for the students to be declared with a\nlearning disability that allowed them to take the SAT or ACT in an untimed\nmanner in a private room. When the\nstudents completed the tests, the proctor would apparently correct their\nanswers to achieve a certain minimum score deemed necessary to get into the\ndesired schools. Similarly, for some\nstudents, he arranged for someone to take the tests for them, also ensuring a\nminimum score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe other aspect of the scheme was to create phony athletic credentials\nto provide the students with preferred admissions based on sports. Some submitted videos of actual student athletes\nthat the parents falsely claimed was their own child. There were videos of high school rowing, soccer,\netc., wherein the applicant never participated but the parents nonetheless\nclaimed was part of the team. In some\ncases, the students posed wearing athletic gear or on training equipment to\nfurther the false claims. Collegiate\ncoaches were paid huge sums of money to accept the false credentials of the\nstudents and place them on their preferred lists. These lists of athletes the coaches submitted\nto their admissions offices all but guaranteed acceptance to the school. These then first year students either never\njoined the respective athletic teams or made a limited, unsuccessful attempt\nthat led to them quickly quitting. Already\nenrolled in the school, participating on the teams was not required. They were not on athletic scholarships, just\ncoach preferred lists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe evidence demonstrates clear fraud by the parents, coaches, test\ntakers, and test proctors who corrected answers. There is an issue concerning what the\nstudents knew. To date, only one student\nhas been charged because they were a knowing participant in the scheme. According to the investigators, the children\ndid not know what their parents were doing. \nParents did not want their children to know so as not to tarnish the\nachievement of their acceptance. They\nwanted their children to believe they earned their way into the schools. Perhaps the students believed that they\nearned their score on the SAT, rather than that someone took it for them or\ncorrected their answers. What about\nthose students whose parents falsely claimed they had a learning disability and\ntook the tests in a special environment? They had to know they did not have such\nlearning disability and did not merit the special testing environment. The phony athletes must have known. They knew they were not playing on their high\nschool sports teams and they were not world class caliber athletes vying to\ncompete at the collegiate level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nUpon learning of the indictment, the schools immediately terminated, or\nat least suspended, the coaches and officials involved in the bribery and false\nathletic documentation cases. Several coaches\nhave already entered guilty pleas and await sentencing hearings. There is no evidence or allegations in the\ninvestigation against the schools themselves. \nThey deem the schools victims of the fraud because the schools were\nduped into accepting students they would not otherwise have accepted. The NCAA stated it will also look at the\nathletics fraud to determine whether any of the schools or their specific\nprograms deserve sanctions. The schools canceled\nany pending admissions applications from these students and are also weighing\nheavily the possibility of expelling current students who gained admission pursuant\nto this fraud. Regardless of whether the\nstudents knew of their parents\u2019 fraud, if they gained entry in this manner they\nshould be expelled and apply legitimately. \nSome of the private companies for which the parents worked, despite no\nconnection to the fraud, also terminated them for their involvement in this\nscheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThis case is another example of disgusting abuse of wealth and\npower. Parents with millions of dollars\nexploited weaknesses in the college admissions system, paying large bribes to affect\nthe fraudulent admission of their children. Allegedly the highest bribe was over 6.1\nmillion dollars. Only a small percentage\nof our society could even consider this level of expenditure. More so, these \u201cparents\u201d were so convinced\ntheir children could not successfully gain admittance to various colleges and\nuniversities that they had to resort to serious criminal enterprise to make it\nhappen. They cared not that their\nchildren were not up to the standards of these schools and likely would be unsuccessful\nin their programs. To them, it was all about\nthe status of being accepted, no matter how likely the inability to succeed. They may have had the wealth to manipulate\nthe system, but that did not equate to the means to graduate or even deserve\nthe opportunity to enroll. Their entire\nprofessional careers, if they have any, will be founded on fraud and\nillegitimacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nEach case will be decided on its own merits and the actions of the\ndefendants. Generally, each is facing the\npossibility of years in prison and large fines. \nDefendants in crimes like this \u2013 non-violent white-collar fraud \u2013 often go\nto minimum security prisons, some referred to as country-club prisons. Although a lengthy sentence, even at one of\nthese institutions, would be punishment, each of these parents who exploited\ntheir wealth and power to fraudulently get their kids into school needs to pay\na significant fine commensurate with the amount paid. For example, an individual who paid a 2-million-dollar\nbribe ought to pay no less than a 10 million dollar fine, assuming they have\nthe means to pay. They propelled their\nkid into a school which they did not deserve and for which they would not\nlikely succeed. They stole a slot from a\ndeserving student who likely worked incredibly hard for the opportunity to\nattend such a good school. Education is\nsupposed to be the great equalizer in our society, providing all graduates with\nthe prospect of good professional jobs. This\nfraud scheme not only hurts the kids involved, but all of society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThere are wealthy individuals who donate large sums of money to help an\ninstitution fund major construction projects (e.g., build a new library). According to the U.S. Attorney and FBI, this\ndoes not constitute bribery or fraud. It\nis a legal, albeit desperate and arguably immoral option to assist in the\nadmissions process. What about those\nwith means utilizing test preparation services that ostensibly teach techniques\nto raise the students\u2019 test scores. \nThose are entirely lawful services, but they provide an unfair advantage\nto benefit students who are less deserving or meritorious for entrance to the\nsame schools over students who cannot afford them. Additionally, there are parents who pay consultants\nor editors to assist their children with college applications, specifically\nwith their essays. Another grossly\nunfair advantage and one I would argue amounts to fraud because the submitted\nwork is truly not that of the student. This\ncase is not related to the extremely consequential issue in higher education\nconcerning the unfathomable debt students and families incur just to\nattend. Hopefully this investigation\nwill force much needed review of the overall college admissions process with\ncareful scrutiny of application enhancements only available to the extremely\nwealthy and that unfairly benefit less capable and less deserving students. Hopefully this much needed discussion will\ninclude the debt issue as well. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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